Latin American woman gets 10 years in jail for smuggling cocaine in Dubai

Sohaila Ahmed, Staff Reporter

The Dubai Criminal Court has sentenced a Latin-American visitor to 10 years in jail, followed by deportation and a Dhs50,000 fine for smuggling cocaine into the country.

The incident dates back to last November, when customs officers ordered the search of the defendant’s bag and discovered a bizarre-looking roll that was suspected to be drugs.

After investigating the roll’s content, police found 250g of cocaine which the defendant was attempting to smuggle inside the country.

She was immediately detained and prosecuted on drug trafficking charges. She will receive maximum punishment.

Earlier in February, the Dubai Criminal Court sentenced a European to five years in jail, to be followed by deportation and fined him Dhs400 for facilitating drug abuse for others.

The case dates back to June 2020 when a cycling squad of the Dubai Police arrested the suspect while inspecting the JBR area and the marina area during the period of embargo during the national sterilisation campaign.

In the case papers, a policeman testified that he arrested three persons in an abnormal condition, including the suspect.

On being interrogated, he confessed to consuming narcotic substances, which he provided to his friends through another suspect.

Similarly, a 27-year-old European barber was jailed and referred to the criminal court on drug charges, after he was caught using and facilitating hashish at his Dubai residence.

The incident dates back to last October, when police received a tip-off about the defendant’s drug activity, and a plan was plotted to place him under arrest.

Police teams took all necessary measures to swoop on the defendant and seize the drugs.

The defendant admitted to using drugs and claimed that he got it from a friend, who was also arrested by police.

In December, the Abu Dhabi Federal Court of First Instance has charged a 26-year-old Briton with possessing and selling drugs through a Telegram account.

The details of the case date back to June, 2020, when Dubai Police got a tip off that a man was selling cocaine through a telegram account he had created using a British phone number.

Dubai Police decided to catch the defendant red handed. A police officer posing as a customer bought drug from the defendant in return for Dhs4,500.

The currency notes used in the transaction were already marked by the police.

“When we met him, he was confused and looking around before handing over the drugs,” said a 30-year-old Emirati police officer.

“I was with the police source during the meeting that happened in a public place in Al Barsha area,” added the officer.