Dubai Three men have been of possessing 3.9 million amphetamine pills loaded in a rented vehicle and scheduled to be smuggled into Saudi Arabia and sold for Dh29.4 million.
Drug enforcement officers tasked one of their informants to cooperate with them and communicate with the three men, a 43-year-old Saudi national and two unemployed Syrians, who were all apprehended in a sting operation in July.
The 43-year-old Saudi visitor was said to have flown into Dubai, according to records, especially to arrange with the Syrian men to stash the banned pills in a vehicle and export them to Saudi Arabia.
A drug enforcement officer testified that upon questioning the Saudi man, the latter admitted to him that his role was to coordinate with the Syrians, smuggle the drugs into Saudi Arabia and sell the drugs for Dh29.4 million [the market price for such quantity].
Dubai police’s anti-narcotics department arranged a sting operation and apprehended the three men one at a time and after having placed them under strict surveillance.
Drugs prosecutors accused the trio of possessing banned pills for promotional purposes.
One of the Syrian duo was accused of consuming amphetamine.
The three suspects pleaded not guilty and refuted the accusation of having possessed the drugs for promotion when they appeared before the Dubai Court of First Instance on Monday.
A Syrian suspect admitted to consuming amphetamine.
An anti-narcotics police lieutenant claimed to prosecutors that the Saudi suspect was a member of a drug gang that had planned to promote mind-affecting substances.
“We received a tip off from one of our informants who is a truck driver that he had been contacted by the Saudi suspect in order to rent for him [the Saudi] a vehicle to export banned pills to Saudi Arabia. We placed the 43-year-old suspect under surveillance for some time … during the strict stakeout, it was discovered that the two Syrians were also involved in cooperating with the Saudi to stash the pills in a vehicle. The three men were arrested one at a time in a sting operation. Upon confronting the Saudi suspect with the pills that were seized hidden inside the vehicle, he admitted that he travelled to Dubai particularly to smuggle the pills to his country. He also alleged that he had a Saudi partner, who turned out to be prisoned in Saudi Arabia … he claimed that they [suspect and his partner] had been promised Dh29.4 million for smuggling the pills to Saudi Arabia. The Syrian suspects claimed that their role was limited to packing the pills in bags,” the lieutenant testified to prosecutors.
The trial continues.
