DUBAI // Prosecutors have lost their appeal against the acquittal of an illiterate housewife who was charged with importing and possessing poppy seeds.
The defence lawyer of 33-year-old Indian A P told appeal court judges that she arrived with her husband and children after visiting family at home and she had brought the banned seeds to use as spices.
“She could not be that silly to carry the drugs in a bag in her hands,” said lawyer Saeed Al Ghilani, as he showed the judges the food packaging the seeds were carried in.
Those seeds are used in cooking, he explained and provided judges with a copy of a cooking book used in Indian schools in the UAE, which includes poppy seeds in many recipes.
The woman was arrested in August 17 last year for possession of 255 grammes of seeds and acquitted in November.
On Sunday, Dubai Court of Appeal upheld the acquittal.
salamir@thenational.ae
