Taxi driver accused of carrying 8.7kg heroin

Dubai: A taxi driver accused of possessing 8.7kg of heroin pleaded not guilty before the Dubai Court of First Instance on Wednesday.

The 35-year-old Pakistani driver was arrested outside a restaurant in Al Ghusais following an informant’s tip-off in June.

Anti-narcotics officers allegedly seized a plastic bag filled with heroin packed in pouches inside a car driven by the defendant. He was accused of intending to promote the heroin in Hor Al Anz.

“I did not promote any heroin,” the defendant told presiding judge Urfan Omar.

An anti-narcotics police lieutenant testified to prosecutors that on detaining the suspect, they did not find any drugs on searching him. They, however, found the key of car that he claimed to have been rented by his brother. The car was parked in Hor Al Anz. “We took him to the place and opened the car … we found a plastic bag filled with heroin pouches in the trunk. The suspect claimed that he had no clue about the drugs and that his brother had rented the vehicle. He was taken into custody,” he claimed.