4 men accused of possessing 2.8 tonnes of amphetamine pills

Dubai: Four men have been accused of possessing 2.8 tonnes of amphetamine pills that drug enforcement officers found hidden in three machines used to compress wood.

The quartet, three Syrians and an Egyptian [who remains at large] were said to have possessed 72 jute bags containing 1.2 tonnes of amphetamine pills and 40 large bags containing 1.6 tonnes of the same banned pills that were found hidden inside three wood-compressing machines in November 2014.

Drugs prosecutors accused the Egyptian, H.M., and the three Syrians, A.S., M.Z. and H.A., of possessing the banned pills for promotional purposes.

A fifth Syrian suspect, A.J., was charged with aiding and abetting A.S. to evade police custody.

The Dubai Court of First Instance’s presiding judge Mohammad Jamal modified the accusation by dropping the suspects’ intent to promote the pills. “The court has changed the accusation to possession of mind-altering substance without intent,” presiding judge Jamal said in court.

The suspects pleaded not guilty and claimed that the runaway suspect was the one who had imported the machines and that they did not have any clue that the pills were hidden inside the machines.

“We did not have any clue that the machines contained banned substances. H.M. imported the machines and we were only informed that the containers had machines to compress wood,” A.S. told the court.

A.J. also entered an innocent plea contending that he does not know the suspects and is not related or connected to the case.

An anti-narcotics police major testified to prosecutors that an informant alerted them that two large containers that contained banned substances hidden secretly, had been imported from Lebanon to Jebel Ali port.

“We obtained prosecutors’ permission to search the containers and arrest any suspect related or connected to the imported materials. An anti-narcotics squad was dispatched to the port and kept watching the containers to see who would carry them out of the port. Afterwards we were informed that H.M. [who runs a shipping company] had imported the wood-compressing machines. We also discovered that his company had also imported two other containers that were taken out from the port and warehouse in Ajman. Further interrogations revealed that the other suspects, A.S., M.Z. and H.A., were connected to the containers. Meanwhile, residency records showed that H.M. had travelled to Beirut. H.A. was detained while attempting to travel outside the UAE at Sharjah airport. M.Z. was arrested in Abu Dhabi. A.S. was also arrested in Abu Dhabi, along with A.J., who had been trying to help him run away to Saudi Arabia,” claimed the major.

A ruling will be heard next month.