Transit passenger denies drug smuggling plans

Dubai: A French traveller who was arrested while in transit at the Dubai International Airport claimed she was unaware that her luggage contained over six kilogrammes of cocaine.

Appearing before the Dubai Criminal Court recently, the 25-year-old woman, identified only as O.Q., denied charges that she intended to smuggle the drugs. Prosecutors accused the suspect of possessing 6.7kg of cocaine.

An Emirati police officer testified that the traveller was stopped at the transit terminal of the Dubai International Airport when she arrived from Sao Paolo, Brazil.

"My colleague suspected her and asked me to search her personally and [we] searched her luggage.

"She carried a huge bag [which had] 13 purses and her own clothes. One of the purses had a strange fish design which was poked out. I removed the layer and found the cocaine hidden [between] two sponge layers.

"The rest of the drugs were hidden in the [other] purses. Her first [reaction] was that she didn't know what was that substance," said the police officer.

In her statement before the public prosecutor, she said that a man named Joy handed her the purses in Brazil and asked her to deliver it to another man named Toni in Ivory Coast.

The court has scheduled another hearing as the trial continues.