Dubai: A businessman has been jailed for 10 years for importing a consignment of sex enhancement pills and other medical drugs without the required approval.
The consignment had been packed and dispatched from India in August and was supposed to be re-exported to Iran.
Dubai Customs officers monitored the consignment, waiting for the importer’s clearing officer to show up and finalise the papers.
When no one showed up, they seized the consignment, opened the container and found the contraband.
Four days later, the 46-year-old Iranian businessman and his 29-year-old Pakistani administrator came to Dubai Cargo Village to clear the consignment.
The two were arrested and the case was taken up by the Anti-Narcotics Department. Both men professed their innocence.
“When the suspects showed up wanting to clear the consignment and have it re-exported to Iran, I told them we had to check the contents,” A Dubai Customs officer testified.
“Upon searching the consignment, we discovered that it contained banned pills. There was a discrepancy in the content of the original bills and the details mentioned on the customs declaration. We notified Dubai Police’s Anti-Narcotics Department instantly and the two men were taken into custody.”
The Dubai Court of First Instance found the Iranian guilty of importing nearly one million Carisoprodol pills and around three million Tramadol pills. On top of his sentence, he was fined Dh200,000.
He will be deported once he has served his sentence.
Citing a lack of corroborated evidence, the court acquitted the administrator, who had been charged with importing and possessing banned drugs.
The ruling remains subject to appeal.
