Fujairah Court sentences two men to life in prison for smuggling pills disguised as medicine

Fujairah: Fujairah Federal Court of First Instance has sentenced two Asian men to life in prison after convicting them of smuggling and possessing 925 narcotic tablets through Fujairah International Airport, rejecting their claims that the pills were harmless medication.

According to Emarat Al Youm, the defendants, aged 30 and 36, were found guilty by the Federal Primary Court for Major Crimes after a forensic laboratory confirmed the seized tablets contained morphine and papaverine, both listed under Schedule I of the UAE’s narcotics law.

The court also ordered the confiscation of the drugs, the men’s deportation after serving their sentences, and the payment of legal fees, including a court-appointed lawyer’s fee of Dh2,000.

Court documents revealed that the first defendant was stopped during a routine inspection at Fujairah airport in June, when officials discovered the pills hidden beneath his luggage. 

He initially told investigators the drugs were purchased from a street market in India and brought into the country at the request of his co-defendant, who had paid for his travel expenses and promised him 2,000 rupees. He insisted he believed the tablets were intended as treatment for stomach gas.

The second defendant, arrested a month later at Dubai airport while attempting to leave the country, gave investigators a different explanation. 

He claimed the tablets were a sexual stimulant and admitted asking the first man to deliver them to another individual in exchange for 5,000 rupees. 

He also acknowledged instructing his accomplice to tell police the pills were for digestive problems if they were intercepted.

Investigators noted sharp contradictions in the men’s statements, from how the drugs were acquired to their supposed purpose. 

One claimed he bought them at a market, while the other said they were handed over by a third party back home. 

Authorities also cited the fact that the tablets were deliberately concealed and that the second defendant attempted to flee the country once he learned of his partner’s arrest.

During their video-linked appearance before the court, both men denied knowingly smuggling narcotics. 

Their lawyers argued they had no awareness of the pills’ contents and sought acquittal. But the judges dismissed the defense, ruling that the evidence showed both men knew the tablets were illicit and intended for commercial distribution rather than personal use.

In its ruling, the court invoked Federal Decree-Law No. 30 of 2021, which prohibits importing, possessing or trafficking narcotics and sets life imprisonment as a penalty in severe cases. 

The judgment emphasized that knowledge and intent could be inferred from circumstances such as concealment, contradictions in testimony, and the promise of payment.

“The intent to traffic is clear from the large quantity of tablets, the financial arrangements between the defendants, and their inconsistent claims about the pills’ purpose,” the judgment read.