Two sailors escape 10-year jail in drugs case

Hamza M Sengendo, Staff Reporter

Two sailors, caught in a bid to smuggle more than 40 kilogrammes of drugs inside a boat’s diesel tanks, escaped severe punishment on Sunday.

The Iranian sailor, 37, and his colleague, 38, first appeared at the Dubai Criminal Court on Mar.11 on suspicion that they with the help of the boat’s Asian captain, 30, brought the drugs with the intention of peddling them.

They included hashish, opium, heroin, marijuana and methamphetamine. Police also found 9,228 pills and capsules of methadone, tramadol, pregabalin and benzodiazepines, prosecutors told the Dubai Criminal Court.

They all rebuffed the charges and contended that they had nothing to do with the seized drugs. However, the court sentenced each one to ten years in jail and a Dhs50, 000 fine to be followed by deportation. They appealed. During a court hearing, an Emirati antinarcotics officer narrated that the captain told him during interrogations that the boat owner had sent him with the sailor and his colleague on the same boat.

“He was supposed to reach Dubai and hand the drugs to both sailors to deliver them to a man the boat owner would send to them in Dubai,” said the officer. “I am innocent,” said the sailor while raising his arm. His colleague argued, “I was astonished to find myself under arrest.” Here, the captain frankly told the jury that both sailors were not aware of the presence of drugs in the tanks. The Appeals Court has cleared both.

However, the Appeals Court has upheld the captain’s punishment. He will thus have to see through his 10-year jail term and pay a Dhs50,000 fine after which he will be deported.

In prosecution records, the police officer testified that  the three men were apprehended after customs inspectors at Deira port received information about the boat coming from Iran with a contraband of drugs.

He went with a team to the port. During their search on board the boat they found the different types of drugs skilfully concealed inside the diesel tanks. The boat’s captain was arrested on the spot for questioning. “I asked him about the drugs and who their owner was. He admitted knowing about them. He revealed he received the boat from a drug dealer residing in Iran who notified him they were stashed in the tanks.

“He was supposed to manoeuvre the boat to Dubai and hand the drugs to both sailors to deliver them to a recipient to distribute them among clients. He was to return the boat to the dealer,” said the officer.

Police arrested the two sailors along with the captain and handed them to the Antinarcotics Department.