Thursday, Jun 11, 2015
Dubai: A worker, who claimed he used methamphetamine pills to help him sleep, was jailed for life on Thursday after being convicted of trading in mind-altering substances.
Drug enforcement officers caught the 23-year-old Bangladeshi worker selling the pills to a police informant in a sting operation carried out in Satwa in February this year.
The defendant told the Dubai Court of First Instance that he possessed 10 methamphetamine pills for personal use and not for trade.
Prosecutors charged him with possession of 297 methamphetamine pills for trading purposes.
Presiding judge Ezzat Abdul Lat, who convicted the defendant, of possessing and trading in banned substances, also imposed a fine of Dh50,000. The defendant will be deported after completion of the sentence.
When asked why he had the pills, the defendant said: “I suffer from insomnia and cannot sleep well at night. The pills help me go to sleep. I did not posses them for trading purposes.”
An anti-narcotics police corporal testified that an informant alerted them that the defendant was looking for a buyer for the methamphetamine in Satwa.
The informant agreed to buy the pills for Dh300. They met beside a cafeteria and walked into an alley where they struck the deal. An anti-narcotics police team that was on watch raided the spot and arrested the defendant. Police confiscated 10 pills that were part of the sting operation. Police found the remaining methamphetamine pills hidden in sacks at the defendant’s residence, the corporal said.
The ruling remains subject to appeal within 15 days.
By Bassam Zaza Legal and Court ?Correspondent
Gulf News 2015. All rights reserved.
