DUBAI: A tourist who is said to be a Tajik woman handed hefty fine of DH 50, 000 besides jail term for having drugs for promotional purpose. She was carrying heroine and methadone from Iran and was taking them to UAE for promotional purposes.
The 33-year-old Tajik woman, M.N., smuggled around 1kg of heroin and 59 methadone pills in her luggage before drug enforcement officers stopped her at Dubai International Airport in September.
The Dubai Court of First Instance also fined M.N. Dh50, 000.
Prosecutors charged M.N. of smuggling and possessing drugs for promotional purposes.
Presiding judge Ezzat Abdul Lat said on Thursday the accused will be deported after serving her punishment.
When she showed up in courtroom three, a crying M.N. tried defending herself by saying she did not know the substance was drugs.
“I met a person called Adham at the airport in Iran and he handed me a package he asked me to deliver to someone in Dubai. I was not aware I was carrying a banned substance,” she told court.
When asked about the purpose of carrying the drugs, she replied: “Adham gave me that package in trust and asked me to deliver it to someone who was supposed to recognise me once I exited the airport. I did not know what the recipient looked like,” said M.N.
An anti-narcotics police major testified an informant alerted them that M.N. was flying in to Dubai with drugs.
“Upon a search and arrest warrant, the woman was detained once she arrived to the airport. At first she claimed she did not carry any luggage. Afterwards airport authorities informed us one bag was left on the luggage belt of the gate where the flight had landed.
M.N. denied the bag belonged to her. Once the customs officials opened the bag and found a personal photo of the defendant, she confessed the bag was hers. However when the heroin and methadone pills were discovered, she claimed she took them from the so-called Adham, but she did not know it was drugs,” the policeman testified.
An anti-narcotics police sergeant said M.N. admitted to him that she carried the package for Dh20,000, but she did not know who would receive it.
