Mother jailed for drug smuggling

Hamza M Sengendo, Staff Reporter

A mother claiming she accepted to smuggle banned pills so she could arrange money to treat her ailing son has lost the case. The Asian woman, 38, walked into the Dubai International Airport on Aug.4 last year with 1, 019 sachets stuffed with 10, 190 pills of the psychoactive substances Alprazolam and Diazepam.

“A woman met me in Pakistan and asked me to deliver them to someone in Dubai who would contact me. I was not aware they were banned drugs,” she argued before the Criminal Court.

She said she did it with the prospect of receiving a sum of money. She contended that her husband was sick and she was shouldering expenses of her children. “I am their sole breadwinner.”

The court overlooked her arguments and sentenced her to seven years in jail plus deportation and a Dhs50, 000 fine. She appealed seeking mercy. The Appeals Court rejected her plea.

In prosecution records, a female Emirati customs inspector said she was on duty in the arrivals hall when her male colleague suspected the defendant’s behaviour and stopped her for inspection.

“He referred her to me. I checked her bags and seized nothing illegal. I told her to walk through the body scanner. She was quick to tell me she strapped pills around her body,” said the inspector. The scanner showed them. I confronted her about them. She said she had brought them to deliver them to someone against a cash reward because she wanted money to treat her ailing son.”

Separately, the Appeals Court upheld a ten-year jail term, Dhs50, 000 fine and deportation penalty the Criminal Court issued against an Asian man, 32, who smuggled drugs in his guts, intended for sale.

He arrived at the airport on Jul.15 with 42 capsules containing 333.47g of heroin and 54 capsules containing 328.73g of meth. He told judges he was facing dire financial conditions that compelled him to venture into pushing drugs. He vainly sought mercy.