Dubai Criminal Court sentenced an African to 10 years in jail to be followed by deportation and fined him Dhs100,000 after being caught red-handed in possession of approximately 80 grams of Marijuana and other narcotics that he had purchased from unknown dealer, using crypto-currency.
The court also ordered that the seized narcotics be confiscated.
The case dated back to December last year when Dubai Police received a tip-off that the accused was abusing narcotics and possessing a quantity of the same in Al Khawaneej area.
A team of detectives was formed to track him down, and after obtaining permission from Dubai Public Prosecution, the accused was monitored and arrested.
A policeman stated in the interrogations that the accused was in an abnormal state when he was arrested but no smell of alcohol was emanating from him.
This necessitated a precautionary search to be conducted, as a result of which he was found in possession of rolls containing items that were suspected to be narcotics, he said, adding that the seized items, along with a urine sample from the accused, were transferred to Dubai Police’s forensic laboratory.
The forensic laboratory report indicated that the seized items consisted of a dried herbal material containing marijuana weighing approximately 80 grams and traces of the same material were detected on two electronic scales, all of which fall under prohibited materials according to table no. 1 of the federal decree-law no. 3 for 2021 regarding combating narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances.
The urine sample analysis also showed the presence of tetrahydrocannabinolic acid, the active ingredient in hashish, which is included among the prohibited psychotropic substances in table no. 5 of the same law, constituting evidence that the accused had used hashish or marijuana.
On interrogation, the accused admitted that he possessed and was abusing the seized items, which he said he had bought for personal use from an unknown dealer and remitted the price to him using digital currencies.
