Dubai: A tourist has been jailed for seven years for smuggling 93 drug capsules in his intestines, excreting them in a hotel where he packed them in juice boxes and readied them for sale.
Acting upon a tipoff from an informant, Dubai Police’s Anti-Narcotics Department officers raided a hotel room in Deira where the 32-year-old Nigerian tourist had checked in during April.
Upon searching the defendant’s room, police a bag containing found methamphetamine capsules packed in juice boxes.
On Monday, the Dubai Court of First Instance convicted the Nigerian accused of smuggling and possessing 1.6kg of methamphetamine for promotional purposes.
Presiding judge Habib Awad fined the defendant Dh50,000 and said the drugs will be confiscated.
The accused, who pleaded not guilty, will be deported after serving his punishment.
The 32-year-old accused contended in court that he smuggled the capsules but not to promote them among other users.
An anti-narcotics police lieutenant testified that an informant alerted them that the suspect possessed drug capsules in his hotel room.
“According to the informant, the defendant possessed part of the mind-altering substances for his personal consumption and the rest was for promoting them among addicts,” the lieutenant said. “After obtaining prosecutor’s warrant, we raided the room and we found the capsules packed in three juice boxes that were hidden in a bag. Upon confronting the Nigerian with the findings, he said he smuggled the capsules in his intestines and then extracted them in the hotel … then he packed the seized capsules in the juice boxes. He said that he had been asked to deliver the drugs to a person who was supposed to call him.”
The primary judgement remains subject to appeal within 15 days.
