Raid nets grocer who sold poppy seeds for 30 years from Dubai shop

Dubai: A drug raid at a grocery in September revealed that the storeowner had been selling poppy seeds for nearly 30 years in Dubai.

Following an informant’s tip off, drug enforcement officers apprehended the 68-year-old Bangladeshi storeowner, S.N., his two sons, and their 60-year-old countryman salesperson, I.B., in Al Sabkha area.

Drugs prosecutors accused the Bangladeshi quartet of possessing five bags that contained 6.2kg of poppy seeds for trafficking purposes.

The suspects pleaded not guilty and denied the charge of possessing the drugs for trafficking purposes when they appeared before the Dubai Court of First Instance on Tuesday.

The 68-year-old father was said to have admitted, according to records, to a drug enforcement officer that he [S.N.] had been selling poppy seeds in Dubai for more than 30 years.

Presiding judge Mohammad Jamal adjourned the case until the court appoints lawyers to defend the suspects on January 12.

An anti-narcotics police lieutenant testified to prosecutors that an informant alerted them that a person had been possessing and consuming drugs in a store in Al Sabkha area.

“We obtained prosecutors’ warrant to search the store and headed to the location. We raided the grocery at 9.30pm and we arrested all those who worked in the store. We searched them personally but did not find any drugs in their possession. Then when we asked them if they had possessed any poppy seeds in the store, S.N. replied that they used to have poppy seeds but they ran out of it. My partner searched the front desk and found underneath it a bag full of poppy seeds. Meanwhile another partner, who searched the store’s upper floor, found another bag that contained poppy seeds as well. Upon confronting the defendants with the findings, the father admitted that he was aware that the seized substances were banned and that he had ordered his sons to get rid of them but they did not. The 68-year-old suspect claimed that they brought the seized substances from an Indian person.

“He also claimed that the Indian person must have smuggled the poppy seeds through Dubai International Airport. The suspect’s sons claimed during questioning that they used to sell poppy seeds but they stopped doing so four months prior to their arrest. The sons also alleged that a recent drug raid led to the arrest of workers, who had possessed 163kg of poppy seeds in a neighbouring store. Since then they admitted that they stopped selling poppy seeds. Meanwhile I.B. claimed that he used to weigh the poppy seeds before distributing them to buyers,” the lieutenant said.

The trial continues.