Dubai: A visitor, who was transporting 7.8kg of cocaine via Dubai in transit when law enforcement officers stopped him at the airport, has been jailed for 10 years.
Law enforcement officers at the Dubai International Airport suspected that the 60-year-old British visitor, who was transiting to Guinea via Dubai, could be carrying drugs in his luggage in May 2018.
When the passenger’s luggage was scanned, strange objects were found in one of his bags.
Customs inspectors referred the Briton to Dubai Police’s Anti-Narcotics Department after they found cocaine in his bag.
On Thursday, the Dubai Court of First Instance convicted the British defendant of transporting 7.8kg cocaine via Dubai in transit and fined him Dh50,000.
Presiding judge Urfan Omar said the defendant, who pleaded not guilty, will be deported after serving his punishment.
When he appeared in court, the accused contended: “I did not know that I was transporting cocaine. The bag was not mine and I did not know what was in it.”
A customs inspector testified that an officer suspected the passenger must have been carrying drugs because he was travelling from Brazil to Guinea via Dubai.
“After scanning his luggage, we discovered that there were two sets of round tapes … one set was empty and the cocaine was hidden in the other one. Upon confronting the suspect, he claimed that the empty set belonged to him while a stranger gave him the other set to take it to Guinea. We seized the drugs and referred him to the anti-narcotics police for further investigation,” he said.
The ruling remains subject to appeal.
