Drug charges: Saudi visitor's wife pleads guilty

Dubai: A Saudi visitor, believed to be a judge, has denied smuggling and consuming different drugs but his Moroccan wife pleaded guilty to the same charges, heard a court on Tuesday.

The Saudi Press Agency earlier published a statement, issued by the Saudi Ministry of Justice, which denied that the 46-year-old visitor, F.B., is listed amongst its judicial cadres.

"I am innocent and I didn't smuggle, posses nor consume any kind of drug," the visitor told Presiding Judge Saeed Salem Bin Sarm when he appeared before the Dubai Court of First Instance on Tuesday.

The Public Prosecution charged F.B. with illegally bringing in and possessing nearly 59 grams of pure hashish and hashish mixed with tobacco. He was also charged with consuming tetra-hydro cannabinol (THC), an active component of hashish and amphetamine. Meanwhile his 30-year-old wife, N.S., was charged with consuming the same drug.

The wife admitted before the judge that the confiscated drugs belonged to her and she smuggled them. She also confessed to consuming hashish.

A captain at Dubai Police's Anti-Narcotics Department testified that the visitor and his wife were arrested at a hotel in the Rifaa area following a tip off. "An anti-narcotics team raided the hotel room and found the drugs placed over a table and some other parts of the room," he said.