DUBAI // A farmer has been sentenced to life in jail for possessing 60 capsules of heroin with intent to sell.
Pakistani Q K, 27, previously denied the charges at Dubai Criminal Court, saying that he was only looking after a bag containing the drugs for a friend.
“A friend had given me a bag to keep until he returned to pick it up and I didn’t know the bag contained heroin,” he said.
Police arrested Q K on June 28 last year in Al Aweer after they were tipped off that he was offering heroin for sale for Dh13,110.
During his arrest, police said that the defendant was spotted trying to throw away money he had been paid by an undercover policeman.
The plastic bag that he handed to the police source was found to contain 60 capsules of heroin, records said.
Q K confessed to the crime during interrogation by police and prosecutors.
He said he had been contacted by a compatriot serving a jail term who had ordered him to head to Fujairah.
While there, he was told by the inmate to go to a specific rubbish bin where the drugs were stashed.
He took the package and returned to Dubai, where he was arrested.
At court on Sunday, he was also sentenced to deportation following his jail term. The verdict remains subject to appeal within 15 days.
salamir@thenational.ae
