Duo accused of importing 4m pills of drugs
Consignment was seized as customs declaration papers said imported substances were sex enhancement pills
Dubai: A businessman and an administrator have been accused of importing 4 million drug pills described as sex enhancement pills on the customs declaration.
Dubai Customs inspectors were said to have received a customs declaration about a consignment of sex medicines that were packed and dispatched from India to Dubai in August.
A customs first inspector suspected the contents of the consignment that he, according to records, decided to keep under observation for some time.
Customs officers monitored the consignment waiting for the clearance officer to show up and finalise the papers, but when no one turned up, the consignment was seized.
Four days later a 46-year-old Iranian businessman and a 29-year-old Pakistani administrator showed up at Dubai Cargo Village and wanted to clear the papers and re-export the consignment to Iran, records state.
Before that, customs inspectors opened up the container to check its contents and found more than 4 million pills of illegal substances.
Dubai Police apprehended the two men and referred them for questioning at the Anti-Narcotics Department.
Prosecutors accused the Iranian businessman and the Pakistani administrator of importing nearly 1 million carisoprodol pills and around 3 million tramadol pills.
According to the accusation sheet, prosecutors said the pills were packed in 172 boxes.
The suspects pleaded not guilty and refuted the prosecutors accusation when they showed up before the Dubai Court of First Instance on Tuesday.
The suspects’ lawyer asked presiding judge Mohammad Jamal to adjourn the case until he presented his written defence on November 11.
The customs first inspector testified to prosecutors: “We suspected the consignment as the customs declaration said the content was supposed to be sex enhancement pills. When the suspects showed up wanting to clear the consignment and have it re-exported to Iran, I told them we had to check the contents. Upon searching the consignment, we discovered that it contained banned pills. There was a discrepancy in the content of the original bills and the details mentioned on the customs declaration. We notified Dubai Police’s Anti-Narcotics Department instantly and the two men were taken into custody.”
The trial continues.