The photo has been used for illustrative purposes.

Hamza M Sengendo, Staff Reporter

A drug dealer who used Al Quoz Cemetery as a narcotics storage facility has been slapped on the wrist by the Dubai Appeals Court.

The unemployed Arab man, 23, had been jailed for ten years plus deportation and a Dhs100,000 fine by the Criminal Court. The Appeals Court lessened the penalty to two years in jail plus deportation.

He possessed a paper roll of 0.59g heroin, a tinfoil roll of 17.75g hashish and a plastic roll of 4.68g hashish plus a plastic bag of 1.42g, three paper rolls of 4.48g and a plastic bag of 6.30g methamphetamine.

He also had 21 methadone pills, 248 Tramadol pills, 140 benzhexol pills and 45 Pregabalin capsules in addition to 5 pills and broken pieces of Clonazepam, Bur Dubai Police Station record showed.

He also had two plastic boxes containing 3.38g and two paper rolls containing 2.12g of heroin, a dried hashish herb weighing 115.43g, nine paper rolls of 12.83g meth, 200 Tramadol and 140 benzhexol pills.

An Emirati lieutenant said a source alerted the Antinarcotics Department the defendant was pushing drugs. Police raided his house near the cemetery, frisked him and scoured the house but seized nothing.  

A policeman searched his car and seized drugs under a seat. A sergeant searched under his second car and seized more drugs in a secret compartment above its exhaust system. They detained him.

He had criminal records in various emirates. Information surfaced that he had buried drugs in the graveyard. An Omani corporal said, “We walked him inside the cemetery at around 4:45pm on May 16.

“A policeman unearthed 20 drugs sachets and six pharmaceutical clippings. He then escorted the defendant to a tree in the cemetery, dug under the tree and landed on a hashish-stuffed plastic bag.

“Also, there were five rolls and two plastic containers stuffed with a heroin-like substance and seven rolls containing a meth-like substance, an electronic scale, packaging bags and a notebook.”

The lieutenant claimed several drug-abusing youths revealed he was their supplier.