The photo has been used for illustrative purposes.

Hamza M Sengendo, Staff Reporter

Three narcotic drugs deliverymen working under directives from a ring leader residing abroad will spend 10 years behind bars, the Dubai Criminal Court has ruled.

An Asian blacksmith, 25, arrived with 46 capsules containing 378.84 grammes of meth and 126 capsules containing 1018.2 grammes of heroin in his stomach on Jul.16 last year, according to records at Al Muraqqabat Police Station.

He handed them to two compatriot men – a salesman, 22, and storekeeper, 30 – to gradually distribute them as per the directives of a mastermind residing abroad. They were caught and referred to the Criminal Court on Feb.24.

The storekeeper who reportedly buried some of the drugs in a sandy area rebuffed the charges. The court has found them guilty and sentenced each one to ten years in jail and a Dhs50,000 fine to be followed by deportation.  On the record, an Emirati lieutenant said the Antinarcotics Department learnt that a man would hand heroin to a police source. The mastermind contacted the source and told him to head to a place near a fuel station in Abu Hail.

The mastermind described the man (the salesman) who would hand him the heroin. A police team escorted the source to the scene. They spotted the salesman. He was with the storekeeper. They looked scared. Cops nabbed them. The lieutenant said, “We seized 25 capsules from the salesman’s trousers’ pocket. At his apartment in Hor Al Anz, he opened a drawer and removed a plastic bag containing 103 heroin-like capsules and another containing 50 meth-like capsules.

“On the other hand, the storekeeper confessed to have buried some narcotics capsules at a sandy patch in Al Baraha. We went there with him and unearthed three capsules of a heroin-like substance and one of meth-like substance.”

During questioning, the salesman said he and the storekeeper received them from a man in Sonapur (Muhaisna) three days ago, under directives of the mastermind who was in contact with the storekeeper. The storekeeper acknowledged this.

The salesman added that he was with the storekeeper when the mastermind advised the latter to bury some capsules. The storekeeper was supposed to notify the mastermind about the burial location for him to send other men to collect them.

The storekeeper disclosed the phone number of the man in Sonapur from whom they got the capsules. The man turned out to be the blacksmith. Upon arrest he confessed to have smuggled in the capsules and handed them to both men under the mastermind’s directives.