Court defers crystal drug case verdict

Emaduddin Khalil, Staff Reporter

The Abu Dhabi Appellate Court deferred to Aug 28 the verdict in the case of 24-year-old GCC woman charged with abusing crystal drug.

The suspect confessed to drug abuse in court. She said she had psychological problems which forced her to take it since her mother died last year.

The suspect demanded clemency, compassion and amendment to the sentence of electronic surveillance.

In another event, an Asian man has been charged with trespassing in a man’s house to meet the housemaid of the latter, the Abu Dhabi Court of Appeal heard Thursday.

The defendant confessed to the charge in the Court, but said he entered the house after the maid invited him over dinner.

When the maid went to get food, the defendant was left shocked seeing the owner enter the house. The Court of  First Instance had earlier sentenced the defendant to deportation. The latter, however, pleaded the court to impose a fine instead.

The court has decided to adjourn its verdict to Aug.28 and release the defendant after his passport or his sponsor’s passport is kept in custody.

Recently, a drug smuggling attempt was foiled when Dubai Customs inspectors found drugs concealed in the fuel tank of a dhow. The smugglers, to escape inspection, hid the drugs in the hot spot of the vessel near the engine where the temperature can reach upto 60 degrees Celsius.

However, the confused dhow captain aroused suspicions of inspectors and upon investigation, 137 plastic bags containing 274,000 captagon pills were found.

This is the second biggest drug seizure for the Coastal Customs Centres Management after the seizure of 783,800 captagon pills in 2018. There were eight drug seizures in 2018.

Dubai Customs plays a very important role in protecting society and securing borders and aims to become the leading customs administration in the world supporting legitimate trade.

To achieve its goal, Dubai Customs held 13 training workshops last year, and in 1Q of this year it organised four training workshops targeting 178 inspectors.

“Smugglers use various methods to get away with their illegal items but we thwart their attempts through our vigilant and well-trained inspectors,” Ahmed Al Daleel, Head of Coastal Customs Centre Management said.