Photo has been used for illustrative purpose.

Mohammed Yaseen, Staff Reporter

The Dubai Criminal Court sentenced a Latin American woman to 10 years in jail to be followed by deportation and fined her Dhs50,000 on charges of importing 55 kilogrammes of cocaine inside her suitcase. The defendant alleged that the suitcase belonged to another person in her home country and she knew nothing about what it contained.

The case dated back to last November when a customs inspector suspected the contents of a visitor’s suitcase and asked her to pass it on the X-ray baggage scanner. The inspector stated that when he found that the suitcase did not look normal, he searched it and found a jacket in it, which contained a substance suspected to be cocaine.  

The same substance was also found inside the internal side pocket of the suitcase. As a result, the woman was referred to the police and the substances to the forensic lab. The public prosecution charged the woman with importing and possessing narcotics and referred her to the Criminal Court.