Dubai: Man gets 10 years in jail for trying to smuggle drugs into UAE

An African passenger was caught with 600 grams of drugs in his suitcase and was sentenced to 10 years in prison. The court also fined him Dh50,000 and ordered the authorities to deport him from the country after his prison term.

The case dates back to November 2021, when a Customs inspector at Dubai Airport found three packages of suspected substances inside the bag of the traveller coming to the UAE.

When questioned, the passenger denied the presence of any prohibited materials inside the bag. However, the baggage scanner showed abnormal density in the bag. The inspector manually searched his luggage and found three bags weighing 600 grams of a substance suspected to be marijuana.

The seized materials were transferred to the laboratory and the African to the competent authorities.

During the investigations, he denied bringing the seized goods and stated that he had received the bag from his girlfriend, who travelled with him on the same flight. According to the convict, the woman asked him at the departure airport of his home country to carry her bag and register it under his name during check-in.

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