Top court upholds lifetime for drug promotion

abu dhabi — Two men, who were convicted of possessing and dealing drugs, have been sentenced to life in jail.

The Federal Supreme Court in Abu Dhabi upheld an earlier ruling by a lower court that handed down the sentences to the Arab men after they were found guilty of possessing and dealing narcotics and tramadol.

The court documents stated that the men were caught by the police after one of them tried to sell drugs to an undercover officer. Prosecutors said the undercover agent disguising as a customer had contacted the drug dealer and told him he wanted to buy drugs. The dealer agreed to sell him some tramadol and other narcotics at Dh9,000.

When the man came in car to hand over the drugs to the officer, police arrested him after he had exchanged drugs for cash.

He told that the drugs belonged to his colleague who was waiting for him in another car in another area. The man said he was working for his friend who had promised to pay him Dh1,000 for the deal. Police went and arrested the second defendant.

Police searched their home located in a northern emirate and found huge amount of tramadol and other narcotics in their possession. Prosecutors charged the pair with possessing and dealing drugs. One of the men had claimed that the tramadol was for personal use because he suffered from illness that caused him body pain. Authorities, however, found he was lying and didn’t have a prescription from a doctor.

The Criminal Court of First Instance had sentenced the two men to death after they were found guilty of dealing and possessing drugs. They were also fined Dh10,000 each.

They challenged the ruling at the appeal court which commuted the death sentence to life in prison. The men then appealed to the UAE’s top court which has maintained the appeal court sentence.