Man jailed, fined Dhs100,000 for importing drugs through a postal parcel in Dubai

Mohammed Yaseen, Staff Reporter

The Dubai Criminal Court sentenced an African to 10 years in jail to be followed by deportation and fined him Dhs100,000 after being convicted of importing and possessing narcotic drugs.

The defendant brought narcotic drugs by a postal parcel from the United States but claimed that one of his friends sent it to him without his knowledge.

The case dates back to October last year when an inspector at a postal company suspected a parcel containing foodstuffs and children’s items.

According to the inspector’s statement, he found hidden substances suspected to be narcotic drugs inside children’s food boxes, so he informed the competent authorities accordingly.

According to the official documents, the suspected material was examined and the forensic laboratory’s report showed that it was marijuana, which is listed in under schedule 1 of the federal decree-law on narcotics. Based on this, the owner of the parcel was arrested.

On interrogation, the suspect denied any connection with the narcotic drugs, pleading that one of his friends had sent him the parcel, which supposedly contained some foodstuffs and children’s toys for trading purposes, but he did not know anything about the drugs in it.

The court concluded that the defendant knew about the seized narcotics drugs and that his denial in the interrogations was meant to fend off accusations and to escape punishment.