Visitor jailed for selling cocaine using WhatsApp

Dubai:

A visitor has been jailed for life for possessing cocaine that he intended to sell to another man who asked to buy the drugs for Dh6,000 on WhatsApp. The 35-year-old Frenchman, Y.M., received a WhatsApp message on his mobile phone from his countryman, D.B., who had requested purchase of the drug from Y.M. as part of a sting operation in May.

The Dubai Court of First Instance convicted Y.M. of possessing around 67gm of cocaine for trading purposes.

Presiding judge Mohammad Jamal said the defendant will be deported following the completion of his punishment.

Following an informant’s tipoff, drug enforcement officers raided D.P.’s flat in Burj Khalifa [in a separate case] and arrested him for possessing and consuming cocaine.

When D.P. was asked about the source from whom he purchases the drugs, he informed them that he bought it from Y.M.

After obtaining prosecutor’s permission to search and arrest the 35-year-old, drug enforcement officers as part of a sting operation asked D.P. to contact Y.M. to purchase cocaine.

When he showed up in court, the defendant pleaded not guilty and contended that he did not possess the cocaine for trading purposes.

An anti-narcotics police lieutenant told prosecutors that they discovered that Y.M. had been selling drugs following the arrest of D.B.

“We raided D.B.’s flat and arrested him. Upon questioning him, D.B. said he constantly bought drugs from Y.M. Then we asked him to contact Y.M. and arrange with him to purchase cocaine for Dh6,000 … D.B. texted Y.M. on WhatsApp and they agreed to meet beside Dubai Fountain. Thereafter we obtained prosecutors’ warrant and monitored the two men sealing the deal. Once they finished, we raided the location and arrested Y.M., who had come on foot while carrying a plastic bag. The defendant had put the cocaine inside a Panadol box. The deal was struck around midnight,” testified the lieutenant. An anti-narcotics police sergeant said the police money that they provided to D.B. to buy the cocaine matched that seized from Y.M.

D.B. was jailed for four years in a separate case.

Y.M.’s ruling remains subject to appeal within 15 days.