Mother-son duo denies smuggling 1kg heroin

dubai — A woman and her son stood trial at a Dubai court on the charge of smuggling more than1kg of heroin into the airport. The 50-year-old Pakistani housewife and her son, 23, were caught at the Dubai International Airport on April 8 with 1.2kg of heroin in one of their baggages. She told the customs officers then that she had only clothes for her and her son in her bag.

Both pleaded not guilty to the charge before the court claiming they were not aware about the drugs in the bag. The son cried as he claimed that the man, who issued the travel papers for them, was behind implicating them with drug smuggling.

However, according to the public prosecution records, during interrogation by the airport officers, the mother admitted an Afghan national handed her the drug quantity to deliver it to someone in Dubai and that she was paid for it.

A female customs inspection officer said the woman’s bag raised their suspicions as she arrived after midnight. “We kept a close watch on her and after she claimed her baggage and reached the inspection point, we asked her whether that baggage belonged to her.”

The officer added: “She replied that the bag was hers and it contained clothes. However, I opened the bag and found its sides were thick. I looked in the sides and found there were plastic bags of white powder.”

The traveller told the officer that an Afghan man bought the travel tickets for them and paid her Dh800, requesting her to transport the drugs to a man here.

mary@khaleejtimes.com