Woman jailed, fined for importing narcotics

Mohammed Yaseen, Staff Reporter

The Dubai Criminal Court sentenced an Asian woman to 10 years in jail to be followed by deportation and fined her Dhs50,000 on charges of importing narcotics.

The defendant brought 6.3 kilogrammes of narcotics inside a water filter in her suitcase for promotion inside the country.

The narcotics, however, were detected by a customs inspector at Dubai International Airport, who referred the defendant to the competent authorities.

The case dated back to last April when a customs inspector suspected the suitcase of the defendant, who was coming to the UAE via Dubai International Airport.

According to his statement, the customs inspector inquired from the defendant if she had any prohibited materials in her possession but the defendant denied.

He then searched her suitcase and found a cylindrical water filter. After opening the top cover of the filter, he found a transparent plastic bag with a dark substance inside suspected to be hashish and weighing 6.3 kilogrammes.

The seized items was referred to the forensic lab. The report issued by the General Department of Criminal Evidence and Criminology showed that the seized items consisted of plastic wraps containing 6.3 kilogrammes of dark-colored pieces of hashish. On interrogations, the defendant admitted that the items seized in her possession belonged to another person in her homeland, who asked her to hand the items over to a person in the UAE in exchange for a job as a maid in the country.

Recently, the Dubai Criminal Court heard a case in which an African visitor, 43, was accused of importing 1.6 kilogrammes of marijuana inside a sesame bag.

The case dated back to last January when a customs inspector at Dubai Airports suspected a plastic bag inside the suitcase of a visitor.

According to the inspector’s testimony, he asked the suspect if he had any prohibited items in his possession but the latter denied.

When his suitcase was searched, a bag containing sesame was found inside but when the bag was emptied, three rolls of a material suspected to be drugs were found.

Two more rolls of the same substance were also found later on.

The seized items were transferred to the forensic lab, where they turned out to be marijuana. The court ordered the suspect to be remanded in custody pending prosecution.