Gulf citizen in court over narcotics

Aya Al Deeb,  Ehab Atta, Staff Reporter

The Abu Dhabi Court of Appeal has heard the case of a Gulf citizen charged with abusing narcotics, driving under the influence of alcohol, possessing alcoholic beverages for personal use and possessing a weapon with 136 aerial shots.

The Court of First Instance ruled that the defendant be fined up to Dhs50,000, his weapon and ammunition be confiscated and his driving licence be suspended for six months.

The defendant, who confessed to all the charges levelled against him, asked the court for mercy by reducing the resolved fine and considering the 70 days he spent in jail on the grounds that he has a family and 6 children who need him desperately.

The court decided to adjourn the case for a verdict to Tuesday, July 16.

In a separate case, The Criminal Court in Dubai on Sunday sentenced three Asians working for a government courier company to six months in jail over stealing electronic devices worth Dhs110,000 from a parcel they received at an airport in the country. The convicts have been also slapped with a fine of Dhs125,000 each, the Court ruled.

According to the Dubai Public Prosecution, two months before the discovery of the theft, the first defendant, who was working as a shipping assistant for the plaintiff company stole electronic devices from a storage unit that was placed in a box, while on duty. He was in charge of receiving and checking the inbound shipments before delivering them to customers.

He contacted the third defendant who works as a driver for the company and collects the parcels from the airport. The driver agreed to help the defendant transfer the stolen goods outside the airport and sell them against 50 per cent. While they were placing the stolen goods in a car, the second defendant saw them and asked for two laptops, in return for his silence and not reporting them. The first defendant admitted that he repeated the same act thrice.

Last month, The Dubai Criminal Court sentenced an African to seven years in prison and imposed a fine of Dhs50,000 for drug trafficking.

Details date back to earlier when a Dubai customs inspector suspected the handbag of the suspect, and when he searched it, he found some narcotics.

When the inspector went to the baggage place with the suspect, and searched the suspected bag, 32 pieces of dry clothes were found loaded with white material which appeared to be banned.