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Expat's bid to smuggle 3kg of crystal meth into Saudi foiled in Dubai

Dubai - He was arrested on February 23 last year in a sting operation.

An expat, whose bid to smuggle a large quantity of drugs to a neighbouring country was foiled by UAE anti-narcotics officers, has gone on trial at the Court of First Instance.
The 30-year-old man, a Pakistani vendor, denied in court the charge of possessing more than 3kg of crystal meth for selling.
He was arrested on February 23 last year in a sting operation.
A task force comprising federal and Dubai narcotics officers, Omani anti-narcotics officers and Saudi authorities arrested the defendant who was about to smuggle the drugs from Dubai to Saudi Arabia. Others involved in the racket were also apprehended.
A case was registered with Al Rashidiya police station. The vendor remains in detention.
A captain with the federal anti-narcotics police said they were tipped-off by the Omani authorities about some plan to smuggle a large quantity of crystal meth from Dubai to Saudi Arabia.
On February 20 last year, the captain was with Omani officers and a police informant when a Pakistani man called the informant from Pakistan. "The informant talked to him and put him on speaker. The latter sent him the pickup location (of 4kg of crystal meth) which was the Dragon Mart. The plan was to smuggle the drugs to Saudi Arabia later," the captain told the prosecutor.
Officers from the Dubai police anti-narcotics department were also present with their counterparts on the ground. "A suspect was then spotted delivering a bag to the informant. He was not arrested then but was tracked down.
"We coordinated with the Saudi authorities to arrest the gang members. On February 23 last year, the Pakistani man, who delivered the drugs to the informant, was arrested. He confessed he was working for someone in his home country," the captain said during the public prosecution investigation.
Persons involved in picking up the drugs in Jeddah, after it was smuggled (during the sting operation) through Al Ghuwaifat border passage, were also apprehended.
The defendant's urine sample tested negative for any narcotics as shown in the crime lab report results.
The trial has been adjourned to January 30.
mary@khaleejtimes.com