Dubai — A tourist has been jailed for life for possessing more than 7.7kg of drugs that he hid under car tyres to sell to consumers.

The 29-year-old Iranian tourist was apprehended by drug enforcement officers in a sting operation in July when he was spotted putting a drug pouch under a car tyre at Dubai International City.

Acting upon an informant’s tip-off, an anti-narcotics police team commissioned the informant to communicate with the Iranian and arrange to collect a quantity of heroin.

Records said the police team raided the parking lot where the defendant had left a heroin pouch and apprehended him while he was walking back to his residence at Dubai International City.

Armed with a search warrant, police raided the defendant’s flat and found 12 sacks of drugs and mind-altering substances.

On Monday, the Dubai Court of First Instance convicted the Iranian for possession of 6.9kg of methamphetamine and 0.8kg of heroin. He was also convicted of possessing 5,075 tramadol pills.

Presiding judge Urfan Omar said the seized drugs and pills would be confiscated and the defendant will be deported following the completion of his imprisonment.

The accused pleaded not guilty and refuted the accusation of having possessed the drugs for sale.

An anti-narcotics police lieutenant testified that an informant alerted Dubai Police that the defendant was peddling drugs.

“We asked the informant to communicate with the defendant, whom he called and arranged to get heroin from him. As part of the sting operation, we monitored the defendant for a while … once he placed the drug pouch under the tyre of a parked car, we raided the place and apprehended him at 11.40pm. The accused admitted that his countryman called him from Iran and instructed him to put the drugs under the car tyre in the parking lot. The seized drugs were hidden inside a cigarette pack. We raided the man’s residence and found drug pills hidden behind the stove. Other banned substances were hidden in the couch,” the lieutenant told the court.

According to records, the defendant tested negative for drugs when he was examined.

The primary ruling remains subject to appeal at the Appeal Court within 15 days.