Dubai: A visitor has been accused of possessing 154 grams of cocaine that he intended to sell to a police informant for Dh20,000 at the parking lot of a famous hotel.
Drug enforcement officers arrested the 31-year-old British visitor, H.A., during a sting operation while he was selling the drug to the informant inside the latter’s car.
Drugs prosecutors have asked for the implementation of the death sentence.
“I did not possess the drug at all,” argued H.A. when he entered a not guilty plea before the Dubai Court of First Instance on Tuesday.
According to the charge sheet, the defendant possessed cocaine for peddling purposes.
His lawyer asked presiding judge Mohammad Jamal to adjourn the case until he photocopied the file and presented his defence when the court reconvenes on February 2. An Emirati anti-narcotics police captain testified that the suspect was caught red-handed in a sting operation in May 2013.
“An informant alerted Dubai Police’s anti-narcotics department that the defendant possessed cocaine and intended to sell it for Dh20,000. We provided the informant with police money that we photocopied in order to use as evidence against the suspect in court. The defendant agreed to meet the informant in the parking lot of a hotel on Shaikh Zayed Road. An anti-narcotics team arrested the defendant as soon as the informant signalled to them that the deal was sealed. On searching the Briton, police seized 11 plastic sacks from his wallet. More of the drug was also found inside his flat at Jumeirah Lakes Towers,” the captain claimed to prosecutors.
An Emirati policeman testified that the suspect admitted to him during questioning that he had sold the drug for an Emirati suspect named T.
“When I questioned him, he alleged that he got the drug from T. and intended to sell it for Dh20,000,” the policeman told prosecutors.
According to records, the so-called T. remains at large.
