Two women jailed for seven years for smuggling drugs

Dubai: Two women have been jailed for seven years each for smuggling three kilograms of amphetamines into Dubai.

Romanian A.M., 26, and 41-year-old J.S. from Japan were also each fined Dh50,000 by the Dubai Court of First Instance and will be deported at the end of their prison terms.

Both women entered not guilty pleas, saying they had no idea the drugs were in the bag.

According to the charge sheet, A.M. was convicted of smuggling and possession of drugs, and J.S. of helping her.

A.M. claimed her bag had broken when she arrived at Dubai airport from Ghana. "A stranger said he would buy me a new bag and gave it to me. I was unaware that it contained drugs," A.M. said when she defended herself in front of Presiding Judge Maher Salama Al Mahdi.

An Emirati anti-narcotics second lieutenant said A.M. was arrested in her hotel room in Bur Dubai.

Informant

"An informant warned us that A.M. possessed amphetamines that she brought with her from Ghana," the officer said.

"Upon obtaining a prosecutor's permission, we raided the room and found a travel bag containing a plastic sack that was hidden.

"She said her Ghanaian friend Jack handed her the bag. She claimed that someone in Dubai was supposed to pick the bag from her.

"She called Jack who asked her to empty the bag and take it to a hotel in Deira. J.S. met A.M. in Deira and collected the bag."

Officers arrested J.S. in the lobby of the hotel.

She said she met a man named Frank in a pub in Japan who offered to pay her $5,000 (Dh18,365) to collect the bag in Dubai and bring it back to Japan with her.

The primary judgement remains subject to appeal within 13 days.