DUBAI // A 25-year-old drug mule who carried more than half a kilogram of heroin in his stomach to Dubai airport has been jailed for 10 years.
Pakistani salesman J S had pleaded that he “didn’t know it was banned substances” and that he was “asked to carry it to Dubai but I didn’t know” when he appeared at Dubai Criminal Court last December.
Customs inspectors had spotted that the man looked fatigued and pale at the airport on September 9 last year.
He was searched thoroughly and then had a body X-ray scan, which showed tens of capsules inside his stomach.
The Pakistani was arrested and referred to Dubai Police’s anti-narcotics department. He was taken with guards to Rashid Hospital, where 74 capsules containing 560 grams of heroin were removed from his stomach.
“I was assigned to watch him and saw the capsules,” testified policeman S A, 32.
Prosecutors said that the defendant confessed to carrying the drugs to deliver them to a man he did not know in Dubai in return for 50,000 Pakistani Rupees (Dh1,824).
He was charged with possessing the drugs for the purpose of selling, which he denied.
In addition to the jail time, he was fined Dh200,000 and will be deported on completion of his sentence.
salamir@thenational.ae
