DUBAI // Three men were each sentenced to life in prison by Dubai Criminal Court for possessing almost four million illegal amphetamine tablets.
On July 12 last year the 41-year-old from Saudi Arabia and two Syrians, aged 26 and 40, were arrested in International City.
“We received information that the Saudi was part of a drug-trafficking gang and that he was trying to smuggle millions of tablets to Saudi Arabia. We managed to get an undercover policeman to get close to the defendants,” a police lieutenant said.
The undercover officer was asked by the three men to provide them with a car and a driver who would take the drugs out of the UAE.
“We found some drugs in the car and they confessed that there were more drugs stored in Al Ain,” said the lieutenant, who was told by the Saudi that he stood to make 30 million Saudi riyals (Dh29.3m) in the deal.
All three men denied possessing drugs with the intention to sell but all were convicted and each sentenced to life in jail.
They were also each fined Dh100,000 and will be deported after the completion of their prison sentence, which is set at 25 years.
salamir@thenational.ae
