Visitor’s drug smuggling bid goes awry

Hamza M Sengendo, Staff Reporter

A drug smuggling visitor who nearly lost his life after swallowing meth-stuffed capsules has been referred to the Dubai Criminal Court.

The Asian defendant, 27, arrived in Dubai with 17 capsules containing methamphetamine weighing 180.18 grammes in total, according to records at the Bur Dubai Police Station. He was apprehended on Mar.22.

On the record, a security guard at a building in Dubai was on duty when he landed on the defendant lying in the basement. He was in deep sleep. The guard after failing to wake him up contacted the police.

Policemen picked him up and referred him to the Dubai Police’s Criminal Investigations Department’s office at the police station.

An Emirati corporal said, “The defendant was speaking abnormally and kept asking us for water. He failed to walk upright. He also could not sit properly. He kept stretching on the office’s chair and raising his legs.”

The corporal asked the defendant what was wrong. He revealed there were capsules in his stomach making him very uncomfortable. And that he had swallowed them using yoghurt.

He explained that he was commissioned by a drug dealer to deliver them to a recipient in reward for “a simple sum of money,” he explained with unease.

The corporal said, “I asked him what they contained. He begged to go to the washroom. He released a piece wrapped in duct tape.” Another corporal contacted the Antinarcotics Department. The defendant told prosecutors the dealer had promised him $1,500 (Dhs5,500).

In a recent case, a drug mule experiencing excruciating abdominal pain jumped into waters at the Dubai Creek near Festival marina and swam relentlessly to find some relief.

The visitor, 29, arrived in the UAE with 28 capsules stuffed with 468.35 grammes of methamphetamine in his stomach. The scheme went bizarre. He dipped himself in the waters to alleviate the pain.  He revealed he was supposed to deliver them to several recipients in the UAE but fell sick before meeting them.