Mother, son say agent framed them in drug case

Legal and Court Correspondent

Amother and her son have blamed a travel agent for landing them in trouble when he handed them a travel bag that had secret pockets stuffed with heroin.

Law enforcement officers were said to have stopped the Pakistani mother, 50, and her son, 23, for carrying a travel bag that contained 1.2kg of heroin that was hidden in secret pockets at the Dubai International Airport in April.

Drug prosecutor charged the mother and her son of smuggling and possessing heroin. The suspects refuted the charges and wept bitterly before the Dubai Court of First Instance when they pleaded not guilty yesterday.

“We did not know that the bag contained drugs. We purchased our tickets from a travel agent in Pakistan and he told me that our travel bag was not big enough for our belongings. He gave me a bigger travel bag, in which we packed our stuff and travelled,” the son told the court.

The son contended before presiding judge Fahd Al Shamsi that he only realised that they were carrying a banned substance once he and his mother were apprehended at the airport.

Presiding judge Al Shamsi will hand out a ruling on July 25.