DUBAI // A 30-year-old transit passenger who was caught with more than a kilogram of cocaine wrapped around his waist will have to see out his 10 years in jail after Dubai Court of Appeal upheld the verdict against him.
Dubai Criminal Court handed out the sentence in April and fined him Dh50,000 after finding him guilty of attempting to carry 50 capsules of cocaine through Dubai to Nigeria.
The Nigerian was arrested in Terminal 3 at Dubai International Airport on December 19 last year.
A police officer suspected the man and asked for his passport after which the man became tense.
“Therefore I asked him to accompany me to the inspection room,” said the policeman, 60.
The passenger refused to undress in the inspection room.
“The area around his waist was bloated, but he refused to uncover it,” said the officer, who then called a senior officer from the anti-narcotics office in the airport.
The Nigerian was searched and when his trousers were lowered, police found 1.18kg of cocaine hidden in capsules wrapped around his waist.
“When we asked him about the drugs, he said it was cocaine and that he was taking it to Nigeria after he brought them from Brazil,” the officer said.
The drug smuggler’s fine and deportation sentence were also upheld by the court.
salamir@thenational.ae
