Man gets three years in jail for drug possession
Prosecutors claim plan was to smuggle substance into detention centre
Dubai: A court has jailed a Pakistani man for three years for possession of drugs but acquitted four others who faced the same charge due to lack of evidence.
The Dubai Court of First Instance jailed 21-year-old A.K. on Tuesday after Presiding Judge Al Saeed Mohammad Barghout found him guilty of possessing 6.4 grammes of drugs after he pleaded guilty.
Meanwhile, the four Emirati inmates, 20-year-old B.N., 23-year-old A.M., 19-year-old M.K. and 26-year-old J.B., were acquitted due to unfounded evidence.
"The heroin, diazepam and venoparpital belonged to me ... the anti-narcotics police seized them in my possession and the four Emiratis were not connected to the drugs," argued A.K. when he pleaded guilty.
Prosecutors had charged A.K., and the Emiratis with possessing drugs.
A.K. also pleaded guilty to the charge of consuming liquor.
The Pakistani national will be deported after serving his punishment.
Pleading innocence
"I have been detained for six months for a crime which I didn't commit ... police didn't find anything in my possession. I am a college student and I need bail," defended A.M.
B.N. maintained that nothing was seized from his possession.
"We don't know each other. I am from Umm Al Quwain and police asked me to come to Dubai ... I have no connection to this case," argued M.K.
J.B. told Presiding Judge Barghout: "Nothing links me to this case ..."
An Emirati first lieutenant testified that an informant alerted Dubai Police's Anti-Narcotics Department that A.K. intended to smuggle drugs to detainees. "We detained the suspect in front of his house in Al Quoz ... the policeman who searched him found the drugs secretly hidden in his trousers."
Prosecutors claimed that the suspects were planning to smuggle the drugs into the detention centre by getting one of them arrested by the police for making trouble.
The suspects were detained one at a time but police searched them and didn't find any drugs in their possession.
The primary judgment is still subject to appeal within 13 days.
