Picture used for illustrative purpose only.

Mohammed Yaseen, Staff Reporter

The Dubai Criminal Court sentenced an Asian resident to three years in jail to be followed by deportation, fined him Dhs100,000 and confiscated Dhs891,000 from his account for promoting narcotic drugs.

The court also sentenced another Asian in absentia to three years in jail and fined him Dhs100,000. The Asian resident joined a gang in his home country to promote narcotic drugs via WhatsApp and opened bank accounts in several banks to collect the payments.

The case dates back to last year when the General Department of Anti-Narcotics received firsthand information that the defendant was a member of a gang engaged in smuggling and trading in narcotic drugs and selling them via WhatsApp.

A policeman stated in the interrogations that he had received an offer to buy narcotics drugs from a phone number in an Asian country and the caller asked him to deposit the price in a local account number. The owner of the account number was disclosed and a search warrant was issued to arrest him, he added.

Further investigations and searches showed that the defendant was working as a minor technician, who received more than 800 transfers between January and February last year, and that the account contained Dhs891,000, most of which was through cash deposits via an ATM, he said.

On interrogation, the account holder admitted that he had several accounts in different banks and that the money belonged to another person, who owned the ATM card for those accounts.

He, however, denied he had any connection to the drug trafficking gang, pleading that his partner, who is still at large, paid him Dhs8,000 to help him open the account and was getting Dhs1,000 per month in return for his help.