Five charged after police discover 2 tonnes of illegal pills

DUBAI // Five men have denied possessing more than 2 tonnes of amphetamine pills hidden inside heavy machinery, the Dubai Criminal Court heard on Tuesday.

Syrians A S A, 31, M RA, 25, HAA, 30, and Egyptian H M M, are charged with possessing the drugs with the intention to sell 2.8 tonnes of amphetamine tablets. The Syrians denied the charges and H M M remains at large.

H A A alone was also charged with possessing 14 Tramadol tablets and with consuming drugs, to which he confessed.

Syrian A J A, 34, is charged with providing assistance to A S A in his attempt to escape arrest, which he denied, claiming he does not know A S A.

Anti-narcotics officers received a tip-off about two containers coming from Lebanon to Dubai’s Jebel Ali port.

“I was assigned to check the containers for a large amount of drugs and also make arrests of any person involved with the containers,” testified police lieutenant M S.

He added they kept the containers under close observation and saw as the clearance company of the defendant, H M M, carried out procedures to get the containers out of the port and unload their contents at a warehouse in Jebel Ali.

“Our investigations revealed that two other containers had been handled by H M M’s company at the Jebel Ali port and were sent to Ajman,” said M S, adding investigations connected the defendants to the containers and their names were distributed to all border checkpoints and airports. He said that H M M had already left the country and was in Lebanon while H A A was arrested on November 10, 2014 while trying to flee the country through Sharjah Airport.

The lieutenant testified that H A A confessed to possessing drugs and led police teams to its location in Ajman. “He said that a Saudi man he met a year before the arrest handed him the drugs, and that he hired A S A to help him, while A S A hired his relative M R A to also help, both in return for some cash which he would be paid by the Saudi man,” added the police officer.

The defendants allegedly received directions from the Saudi man, identified in records as Bu Abdullah, to load the pills into bags.

“A S A was in Abu Dhabi and planning to illegally exit the country to Saudi Arabia, and M R A also was inside a shop in Abu Dhabi, both men were arrested,” said Emirati lieutenant colonel A M A.

The court will issue its verdict on February 21.