Dubai: A salesman has lost his appeal and will be jailed for 10 years for possessing 1.6kg of heroin pills that he had arranged to be smuggled to Dubai in another man’s stomach.

In February, the Dubai Court of First Instance convicted the Afghan salesman, H.I., of smuggling and possessing 202 heroin pills for promotional purposes, while his two countrymen, N.M. and H.S., were cleared of aiding and abetting H.I.

H.I. appealed the primary verdict and sought to have a reduced punishment before the Dubai Appeal Court.

Presiding judge Saeed Salem Bin Sarm rejected H.I.’s appeal and upheld his 10-year imprisonment.

According to the appeal judgement, the accused will also have to pay a fine of Dh100,000.

“The innocence of N.M. and H.S. has also been upheld. Meanwhile H.I. will be deported after serving his punishment,” said presiding judge Bin Sarm.

H.S. and N.M. pleaded not guilty.

When he defended himself before the appellate court, H.I. claimed that he possessed the drugs for his personal consumption and not for promotional purposes.

A police corporal testified that an informant alerted them that N.M. was searching for someone to buy heroin for Dh55,000 in June in Al Mamzar.

“An anti-narcotics police team was dispatched to the location to arrest the suspect in a sting operation. The informant had agreed to pose as the buyer and help us catch the suspect. We arrested N.M. and H.I. who had accompanied him. We did not find any banned substances with N.M. after searching him. However we seized a heroin pill wrapped in a napkin in H.I.’s pocket. Thereafter we escorted the two men to their place of stay in a nearby hotel where they guided us to the remaining heroin pills. We also found three air tickets and visas. The duo said during questioning that the drug pills belonged to them and to H.S. When asked about H.S., the duo [N.M. and H.I.] told us that he had been waiting for them in Al Mamzar … we returned to the location and apprehended H.S.,” he testified.

H.I. was quoted as admitting that he had arranged for the pills to be smuggled from Afghanistan with his countryman named Mameen [in his intestines] against starting up a company in Dubai.

The appellate ruling remains subject to appeal before the Cassation Court within 28 days.