3 held for possession of 4m narcotics pills

dubai — Three men were charged in court on Monday with possessing large quantities of narcotics for selling.

Prosecutors accused the two unemployed Syrians, aged 26 and 40, and a 43-year-old Saudi visitor of possessing 3,830 amphetamine pills which they were to sell.

The two Syrians are also accused of possessing another quantity of more than 3.8 million tablets of the same drug. The 26-year-old defendant is also facing a charge of taking drugs.

They all pleaded not guilty to the charges in the Court of First Instance. The arrest was made on July 12, last year.

“We had information that the Saudi lived in a hotel in International City and was engaging, together with others, in suspicious activities related to drugs. We learned he had asked another suspect to arrange for a vehicle to transport a large quantity of amphetamine pills which they were to smuggle outside,” a police lieutenant in the Dubai Police antinarcotics division said.

“One of our sources was in contact with one of the suspects and was asked to arrange for a pick-up vehicle to transport the drugs before he (the source) would smuggle

We kept the source and the vehicle under close watch when he met with the accused.” a police lieutenant

them to Saudi Arabia”.

The source was later given a vehicle arranged by the police. “We kept the source and the vehicle under close watch when he met with the accused on Shaikh Zayed Road on July 11, last year,” the office said. The police watched as the two Syrians drove the vehicle to Sharjah.

“Around 3pm, the following day, they came back to International City driving the same vehicle which looked overloaded. They left it outside the hotel where the Saudi was staying. With a public prosecution warrant for search and arrest, the police raided the car driven by one of the accused shortly later in the parking lot of Dragon Mart,” he added. The defendants admitted they had drugs in the vehicle outside the hotel and two other quantities in Al Ain and Ajman.

The lieutenant said the Saudi defendant told him he came here to oversee the job of storage and smuggling of drugs.

mary@khaleejtimes.com