DUBAI // Five men accused of possessing more than 20 kilograms of drugs and 40,000 pills denied the charges at Dubai Criminal Court on Monday.
A sixth defendant also denied consuming drugs.
Two of the accused, Emiratis E R, 28 and M Q, 34, were charged with being in possession of 2.1kg of hashish, half a kilo of opium, half a kilo of Methamphetamine, and 10,000 Tramadol pills.
Iranian E B, 27 was charged with smuggling the drugs belonging to E R and M Q, in order to sell them. He is also charged with consuming drugs.
Pakistani A E, 24 and A M, 24, from the Comoros Islands, were both charged with possession, with the intent to sell, and consuming drugs. The men were found with 17.1kg of hashish, opium and heroin, as well as 4,910 Benzhexol and 28,000 Tramadol pills.
Emirati S A, 25, was charged with consuming drugs and for aiding and abetting A E and A M.
Anti-Narcotic officers from Dubai Police arrested E R and M Q after receiving a tip-off, discovering the drugs hidden under the floor of M Q’s house. During the investigation, both men confessed to receiving drugs from the Iranian defendant.
Officers arrested E B while he was in the process of handing over drugs to defendants A E and A M, who were also apprehended. The Iranian then led police to his stash, hidden in the fuel tank of his boat.
A E and A M told police they were collecting drugs for S A, leading to his arrest.
“I was assigned as a member of the arrest team for the defendant E B,” Emirati officer A A told the court. “We found him in Khor Dubai area and saw him loading a bag into the boot of a Lexus car belonging to the defendants A E and A M and then we arrested him. He told us that the bag he gave to the two men contained drugs.”
The next hearing is April 15.
salamir@thenational.ae