Abu Dhabi: The Abu Dhabi Criminal Court has awarded life sentence to an Emirati and a British national, while two other British men are acquitted in a case of drug trafficking.

The case involved eight suspects of different nationalities, including four from Britain and one each from the UAE, Jordan, Morocco and Somalia.

A British woman, 28, was sentenced for life in jail for smuggling cannabis from the United Kingdom to sell in the UAE. She will be deported after serving the jail term.

A 24-year-old Emirati, DH, was handed out life sentence for aiding and abetting the British woman by providing her with cash and information and directing her to sources in the UK from whom she can purchase the drugs.

The Emirati was additionally sentenced to two years for possessing and consuming drugs.

During police and prosecution questioning, the British woman admitted to the charges and said she had smuggled drugs from the UK through Abu Dhabi Airport four times before she was arrested. She admitted working with the Emirati defendant whom she was introduced by her husband.

Two other British nationals, A.M. and M.A, aged 27, were cleared of the charges of possessing drugs to sell and to consume.

Three other defendants, British LH, 26, Jordanian AA, 21, and a Somalian woman MB, 25, were sentenced to two years in jail followed by deportation. These three were found guilty of possessing drugs and consuming it but they were cleared of possessing drugs for the purpose of trading it.

A Moroccan woman, E.S, 26, was referred to the court of misdemeanours to face a charge of consuming pregabalin.

Defending lawyer of a British national, Awatif Mohammad from Al Rowad Advocates, said: “The evidence submitted by prosecutors is baseless and does not in any way prove my client’s connection to the drugs because the confiscated drugs, were found in possession of three other defendants inside their hotel room, not in my client’s hotel room.”

Awatif argued that her client, who stayed in the same hotel was merely visiting the other defendants in their hotel room when police raided the place.

“The police officer in his testimony claimed that he kept my client under surveillance for a month while my client had arrived in the country two days before he was arrested,” Awatif told the presiding judges of the criminal court.

Court records showed that on April 8 last year, police received a tip-off about the defendants who were then kept under close observation and arrested later.

Prosecutors said that all of the defendants admitted to charges against them during interrogations but they denied when they appeared before the Abu Dhabi Criminal Court.