Trio accused of burying friend’s body in desert

abu dhabi — Three men had carried the body of their friend from Abu Dhabi after he died of drug overdose and buried him in a Dubai desert, a court has heard.

The Filipino men are on trial at the Abu Dhabi Criminal Court of First Instance, accused of involvement in the death of their colleague after providing him with drugs, hiding his body and consuming drugs.

The court was told that the defendants were consuming drugs with the victim in Abu Dhabi during the night, when he suddenly fell unconscious after taking a lot of drugs and eventually died.

Instead of reporting the matter to authorities, the Filipino who feared to be arrested allegedly put his body in the car and drove him to a sandy area in Dubai. They dug a hole there and buried him to hide from the crime of drug abuse and causing the man’s death.

The police had probed into the matter after the victim was reported missing. The trio was arrested after investigations suggested that they knew his whereabouts because they were last seen with the victim. The men had confessed to cops that they had buried their friend after he died of drug overdose. They also took police where they buried the body.

Prosecutors charged them with taking part in their friend’s death, hiding his body and consuming drugs.

The third defendant denied having any involvement in the man’s death or burial in the desert when he appeared in the court.

He told the court that he is a company driver and his two colleagues had invited him to help transport the body of the victim to his father in Dubai after the man allegedly died of drug overdose.

He said the men told him that they wanted to take the body to International City where the victim’s father lived.

He said that after taking them along with the body to Dubai, he left them there and returned to Abu Dhabi for work. He added that he didn’t know what happened next and that he didn’t have any idea about the motive of the men.