Dubai: A visitor has been accused of transporting 7.8kg of cocaine via Dubai in transit when law enforcement officers stopped him at the airport, a court heard on Monday.
Law enforcement officers at the Dubai International Airport were said to have suspected that the 60-year-old British visitor, who was transiting to Guinea via Dubai, could be carrying drugs in his luggage in May.
Once the transit passenger was asked to have his luggage scanned, according to records, strange objects were found in one of his bags.
Customs inspectors referred the British passenger to Dubai Police’s anti-narcotics department once they found cocaine in his bag.
Prosecutors charged the British suspect with transporting 7.8kg cocaine via Dubai in transit.
The suspect pleaded not guilty when he appeared before the Dubai Court of First Instance.
“I did not know that I was transporting cocaine. The bag was not mine and I did not know what was in it,” the suspect argued before presiding judge Urfan Omar.
A customs inspector told prosecutors: “One of the officers suspected the 60-year-old must have been carrying drugs because he was a Briton and 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 investigations.”
A ruling will be heard on August 9.
