Woman gets 10 years for smuggling cocaine

Dubai: A woman from Thailand will spend ten years in jail and has to pay Dh50,000 fine for smuggling four kilogrammes of drugs which she planned to distribute, ruled a court.

The Dubai Court of First Instance incriminated the 25-year-old female visitor of smuggling cocaine after she claimed that she was transporting the contraband from Brazil to Bangkok, via Dubai for $2,000 (about Dh7,400).

The Public Prosecution charged the accused, J.K., with unlawfully bringing in 4,063 grammes of cocaine with the intent to distribute them in Dubai.

The defendant denied the charge of intending to distribute the cocaine in Dubai and pleaded not guilty.

The accused will be deported after carrying out her punishment, said the verdict sheet.

An Emirati anti-narcotics first corporal at Dubai International Airport testified: "The woman arrived on board the flight coming from Brazil around 9.15pm& she was at the transit counter when I suspected her and asked to see her for her passport.

"She seemed confused when we searched her luggage and found a brown sack which contained a white substance that looked like cocaine."

Records show the accused was referred to anti-narcotics police at the airport, where she said that she didn't know that the banned substance was in her bag.

"Then she claimed that a woman gave her $2,000 to collect drugs from Brazil and carry it to Bangkok," said an Emirati policewoman who searched and questioned the defendant at the airport.

The primary verdict is still subject to appeal within 15 days.