Officials warn over women drug carriers

Dubai: Law enforcement officers have sent out a 'strong warning' to drug lords who use women to export illegal substances from Africa to Hong Kong and other Asian countries via Dubai.

The warning came from Dubai Court of First Instance which sentenced a Ugandan and a South African woman each in a different case, to 10 years in jail each plus a hefty Dh50,000 fine for illegally importing heroin, which they intended to export to Hong Kong.

The Public Prosecution charged the 25-year-old Ugandan woman, M.A., with illegally bringing in 450g of heroin to export them to Hong Kong.

In a similar case, 33-year-old South African F.D. was charged with smuggling 74 heroin capsules weighing 848g to import it to Hong Kong as well.

An Emirati female customs inspector told the Public Prosecution: "The Ugandan woman arrived at the transit terminal at Dubai International Airport. The scanner beeped when she passed through it. I took her to the search room where I found two white sacks of drugs in her possession."

In transit

M.A. confessed that she took the drugs from a woman in her country and was supposed to hand it over in Hong Kong for $1,000 (about Dh3,680).

In the second case, a Yemeni corporal testified: "The South African woman told me she swallowed the capsules in Uganda and was ordered to take it to Hong Kong for money." F.D. admitted her charges. The two accused will be deported after serving their punishments.