Visitor gets life in jail for smuggling heroin in stomach

Dubai: The Dubai Court of First Instance has sentenced a visitor to life in prison for smuggling 40 heroin capsules in his stomach.

The Pakistani visitor, identified as H.A., was given an additional three-year term for trying to bribe a policeman to escape.

Two of his accomplices - compatriot S.S. and K.K. from Ivory Coast - who were arrested in a sting operation were also handed life-terms, which is 25 years in jail.

The Public Prosecution had charged the trio with trafficking heroin. H.A. was additionally charged with offering Dh1,000 and $100 in bribe to the policeman who escorted him to extract the capsules from his stomach.

A custom's inspector suspected that the accused was carrying drug capsules in his stomach after having him scanned at Dubai International Airport.

The visitor was taken for questioning and examination where it was revealed he had swallowed 40 capsules, each weighing nine grammes.

It was heard that he offered the policeman, who escorted him to hospital, a bribe to allow him to escape.

An anti-narcotics squad arrested S.S. and K.K. in a sting operation and they admitted that H.A. supplies them with drugs.