Police seize drug-stuffed wheelchair, shoes

Hamza M Sengendo, Staff Reporter

A passenger wearing heroin-stuffed shoes arrived at the Dubai International Airport with a handicapped countryman whose wheelchair was stuffed with more, a court heard on Monday.

An Asian salesman, 40, who is wheelchair-bound was referred to the Dubai Criminal Court with a compatriot worker, 31, for coming with 2.223kg of heroin on Mar.26, as per records at the airport security department.

The salesman had four plastic rolls wrapped with duct-tape hidden in his bag and two plastic rolls stashed inside his wheelchair.

They contained 1696.2g in total. The worker’s shoes contained two rolls stuffed with 527.3g.

During court questioning, both contended they were not aware of the nature of the substance they were carrying. The court’s jury adjourned the case till June 27 for its decision.

An Arab customs officer said his colleague in the arrivals hall suspected the worker’s movement. “I tasked an inspector to frisk him and pass his shoes in the X-ray scanner. The scanner showed they contained weird lumps.

“We opened the right shoe and removed a suspicious brown substance. The left shoe contained the same,” said the officer adding that the worker had escorted the salesman whose bag was suspected by another inspector.

“An inspector manning a scanner detected strange lumps in the bag’s corners. Another inspector monitored the bag until it reached the conveyer belt. The worker picked it up for the salesman along with the wheelchair.”

Shortly, an airport wheelchair services employee arrived with the salesman who was on a wheelchair belonging to the airport. Inspectors referred his bag and wheelchair to the X-ray scanner, explained the officer.

A female inspector at the scanner detected the bag contained four rolls full of a brown substance. She suspected the wheelchair’s tyres also contained similar suspicious lumps. Inspectors opened the wheelchair’s right tyre.

It contained a similar suspicious roll. They perforated the wheelchair’s iron bars searching for more. They detected brown powder billowing from the bars. Both men were referred to the Antinarcotics Department.