DUBAI // A businessman accused of smuggling more than 13 kilograms of cannabis seeds confessed but told Dubai Criminal Court that he did not know they were banned in the UAE.
Iranian A Z, 55, was initially charged with smuggling and possessing 13.2kg of cannabis seeds on June 27 with the intent to supply to others but the court amended the charge to just smuggling and possessing, without the intent to supply.
Prosecutors said a customs inspector found the seeds in the businessman’s bag after it had passed through an X-ray.
“I suspected in a plastic bag inside his luggage that contained seeds and when I asked him about it he said it was food for birds and that if it was banned in Dubai, he didn’t know that,” said customs official A S, 27.
She added that he told her he brought the seeds to a friend in Dubai.
The next hearing will be on November 10.
salamir@thenational.ae
