Dubai visitor admits smuggling drugs for residency

Dubai: A visitor has confessed that he unlawfully brought 550 grams of heroin in his stomach to a friend who promised him Dh900 and a residency in Dubai.

"I knew it was heroin... I agreed to deliver it to a friend on trust, but I didn't bring it for promotional purposes," the 32-year-old Pakistani visitor told Presiding Judge Saeed Salem Bin Sarm of Dubai Court of First Instance on Tuesday.

The Public Prosecution charged the suspect, M.A., with smuggling and possessing 50 heroin capsules, which he hid inside his stomach.

The court will assign a lawyer to defend the visitor when it reconvenes soon.