Father and sons jailed for life for selling illegal poppy seeds

DUBAI // A grocery shop owner and his two sons have been sentenced to life in jail by the Dubai Criminal Court for selling illegal poppy seeds for the last 30 years.

Bangladeshi A M S, 68, and his sons A A S, 28, and S S, 33, as well as their compatriot and shop worker E A, 60, were all convicted of possessing drugs with intent to sell.

E A was additionally convicted of helping to sell the seeds.

Police raided A M S’s shop in the Al Sabhka area on September 20 last year and found more than four kilograms of the banned seeds.

“We identified ourselves as police officers and asked them if they possessed any drugs,” said anti-narcotics officer S A, 25.

“The father said they used to have some but they didn’t any more, but when we searched the store we found the seeds hidden inside plastic bags.

“The father then confessed and said he knew it was banned and that he instructed his sons to get rid of it but they did not.”

A M S told prosecutors that an Indian man had delivered the poppy seeds but he had no idea about their origin.

“The sons said their father used to send them to get seeds, but they stopped selling them four months before their arrest because a [neighbouring] store owner was arrested for possessing 163kg of poppy seeds,” said S A.

The officer said E A confessed that his job was to store and sell the seeds while his boss kept accounts of sales of the seeds for three decades.

Prosecutors said all four men confessed to selling the seeds but claimed that they did not know they was banned in the UAE.

In court last December, they all denied a charge of possessing drugs with intent to sell.

They will be deported after serving their jail terms, which is set at 25 years.

However, they can appeal their sentences within 15 days.