African jailed and fined on charges of importing narcotics

Mohammed Yaseen, Staff Reporter

An African brought 600 grams of narcotics in his suitcase and alleged that they belonged to a female passenger on board of the same flight.

The court sentenced him to 10 years in jail to be followed by deportation and fined him Dhs50,000.

The case dates back to November last year when a customs inspector at Dubai Airport discovered three rolls suspected to be narcotics inside the suitcase of an African coming to the UAE.

According to his testimony in the investigations, the customs inspector said the baggage scanner showed that there was something abnormal in the African’s suitcase.

He consequently inquired from the African if he had any prohibited materials inside the suitcase but the latter denied.

When he began searching the African’s suitcase manually, the customs inspector found three rolls weighing 600 grams suspected to be marijuana.

The seized materials were referred to the forensic lab and the defendant to the competent authorities.

On interrogation, the defendant denied that he had brought the seized materials, pleading that he received the suitcase from his girlfriend, who was on board of the same flight.

The girlfriend asked him to carry her suitcase and register it in his name on the pretext that she did not know baggage registration procedures, he said, adding that he accepted to do so but denied he knew anything about what the suitcase contained.

The court believed that the defendant’s denial was meant for him to avoid being accused and escape punishment.