Dubai: A worker lost his appeal and will spend two years behind bars for possessing drugs for promotional purposes after he communicated with a drug convict who is behind bars.

An informant reported to Dubai Police’s Anti-Narcotics Department that the 40-year-old Filipino worker possessed and consumed drugs in October.

After obtaining a search and arrest warrant from Dubai prosecutors, a anti-drug police team raided the Filipino’s house in Karama and apprehended him.

During the search operation, the worker guided the officers to the balcony of his flat where he had hidden a tiny amount of methamphetamine, according to records.

When asked who had provided him the drugs, the defendant told interrogators that his countryman convict called him from Dubai Central Jail and told him about the place from where to pick up the banned substance.

In February, the Dubai Court of First Instance jailed the Filipino defendant for two years for possessing 0.49gm of methamphetamine for promotional purposes and consuming the same substance.

The accused appealed his primary judgement before the Appeal Court and sought to have his punishment reduced.

Prosecutors also appealed the punishment against the defendant and sought to have a tougher punishment.

When he appeared before the appellate court, the Filipino defendant admitted to possessing the drug but denied he had the intention to promote it, saying he kept it for his personal use.

Presiding judge Saeed Salem Bin Sarm upheld the primary judgement but added a fine of Dh10,000 that the accused has to pay.

The defendant will be deported following the completion of punishment.

An anti-narcotics police officer testified that the defendant was apprehended shortly before night.

“When we searched his flat, he guided us to the balcony where he had hidden the drugs inside a suit that was hung in a cupboard. Upon questioning him about who had provided him that drug, he claimed that his countryman [who is a drug convict and imprisoned] called him to pick up the drug from a certain spot. The accused said the convict used to ask him to keep the drugs for some time until someone comes to purchase them. After selling the drugs, according to the defendant’s statement, he would transfer the proceeds to his countryman’s account. The defendant said that he used to get a commission for doing so … and he also sold drugs to two Filipinos in Sharjah and Al Ain,” the police officer said.

The appellate ruling remains subject to appeal before the Cassation Court.