Visitor gets 10-year jail for smuggling heroin

dubai — A Pakistani man was sentenced to 10 years in jail by a Dubai court after he was caught at Dubai airport with 61 capsules of heroin in his stomach.

Public prosecution records show the 29-year-old man, who came to Dubai on a visit visa, was caught at the Dubai International Airport on May 8.

The Court of First Instance convicted him of charges of possession and smuggling of drugs and ordered his deportation after serving his prison time and paying a Dh50,000 fine.

The court also ruled that the drugs seized from the defendant be confiscated.

An officer from the anti-narcotics division of the Dubai Police said that he was assigned to guard the defendant as he stayed at hospital. “I learned he had already dropped six capsules at the airport. He then took out the remaining later at hospital.”

He confessed during interrogation that he was aware the capsules contained heroin. He claimed he picked them up from a man in Pakistan and was to deliver them to someone here. He was to get a visa to work here and money for that job.

A report from the General Directorate of Criminal Evidence and Criminology showed the drugs seized from the accused weighed 717.8 grams of heroin.

The accused can appeal the court verdict within 15 days.