Businessman was caught with 1.7kg heroin hid in speakers Bana Qabbani DUBAI // A drug trafficker was sentenced to life imprisonment yesterday for possessing and dealing heroin. K A, a 32-year-old businessman from Nigeria, will be deported after serving his sentence, which is generally 25 years. He was convicted by the Dubai Criminal Court of First Instance of possessing 1.7kg of heroin, which he tried to hide in several stereo speakers.
KA had pleaded not guilty to the charges, and claimed the drugs belonged to a friend. Authorities received a tip-off in March last year that led them to KA. An Emirati police official said he was caught in Al Ghusais district carrying five speakers with plastic bags of heroin hidden inside them. "We went with him to his house in Ajman and found three scales used to measure the drugs and 91 heroin-filled capsules," the officer said.
The UAE has a zero-tolerance policy on drugs, and long jail terms for even minute quantities of contraband are not uncommon. A Filipino man was sentenced to life in prison this year after being convicted of selling 0.69 grams of crystal methamphetamine, and an Iranian tourist who tried to sell about six grams of hashish to police received a life term in May. balqabbani@thenational.ae