ABU DHABI // A man who swallowed 80 capsules of heroin to smuggle them into the country has been sentenced to death.
Prosecutors told the criminal court that JA, from Pakistan, was arrested after he called a man in Dubai to tell him he had the drugs and would meet him in Mussaffah to sell them for Dh5,000.
Police arrested him and his Dubai contact.
JA was carrying a plastic bag, hidden inside a white cloth, which contained 80 capsules filled with a white substance that tests proved to be heroin.
Police said he confessed to bringing in 642 grams of heroin through Abu Dhabi International Airport.
But his lawyers argued in court that he was delivering the capsules without knowing what was in them.
The court issued the death sentence, which is the maximum for drug dealing.
There have been no cases of drug-related death sentences upheld by the Court of Cassation.
