A man who smuggled drugs into the country had his jail sentence increased from a year to seven and was ordered to pay a Dh50,000 fine by Dubai Court of Appeal.
The 28-year-old Kenyan was arrested possessing 2,450 tablets of the anti-epileptic drug pregabalin after arriving in Dubai International Airport in December last year.
"I suspected that he was hiding something in his luggage because it had an abnormal thickness to it," said an Emirati Dubai customs inspector, 30.
Upon searching the man's bags, inspectors found large quantities of tablets which they believed were drugs.
"We also conducted a body search and found more drugs wrapped around his body and some hidden in his clothes," said the inspector.
The man was referred to the airport's police station where he allegedly admitted carrying the drugs from his home country to deliver to a man in Dubai.
The drug control department found no traces of drugs in his system.
At Dubai Criminal Court, the man denied a drug smuggling charge, and said he did not know what he was carrying was banned in the UAE.
He was convicted and sentenced to a year in jail to be followed by deportation and fined Dh20,000.
Prosecutors appealed the sentence seeking harsher punishment and Dubai Court of Appeal increased his sentence to seven years and his fine to Dh50,000.
He will be deported after serving his prison term.
