Traveller tried to smuggle drugs hidden inside frozen meat into UAE, court hears

Inspector says X-ray showed chunks of meat were cut in half and put back together before being frozen

A traveller tried to smuggle drugs hidden inside packages of frozen meat into the country, Dubai Criminal Court heard Thursday.

Prosecutors said that on November 14, the Egyptian man flew into Dubai International Airport after a holiday in Cairo. A customs inspector noticed three suspicious items in the man’s suitcase on the X-ray detector .

“I was then asked by my colleague to open the man’s handbag and check the three objects. When I opened it, I found frozen minced meat in three manually wrapped plates, which seemed really strange,” the Emirati inspector told the court.

He said he also found a plastic bag containing frozen meat cubes.

"I took the meat plates and chunks outside the bag and had them rescanned. The X-ray showed that some of the chunks were cut in half then put back together before being frozen," he said.
The inspectors cut the pieces and found substances hidden inside, which they suspected could be drugs. They also found tablets under the minced meat.

Lab tests identified the substances as hashish and pregabalin.
The man tested negative for drugs but was charged with smuggling 480g of hashish and 28 pregabalin tablets into the country.
The next hearing is scheduled for February 15.