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28 March 2024

Aged drug courier gets lighter sentence

Published
By Eman Al Baik

A 65-year-old Pakistani woman was sentenced to one year in jail for smuggling into the UAE and possessing 13,180 restricted medicine tablets in return for Pakistani Rupees 20,000.

Taking into consideration the circumstances of the case, the Dubai Criminal Court of First Instance awarded HM a lenient jail sentence and ordered her to pay Dh20,000 fine and to be deported after serving her jail term.

On November 9, at around 8.30am, HM arrived at Dubai International Airport.

Checking her luggage via X-ray, security officer Aysha Sultan suspected her bag, which contained a large quantity of medicine.

The officer asked the passenger if she possessed anything that she wants to reveal.

As the passenger answered negatively, the bag was manually checked and a large quantity of the medicine Xanax Alprazolam IMG, which is restricted by the UAE Ministry of Health, was found. The tablets were hidden in a professional way and wrapped in carbon paper and scotch tape.

When the officer was picking up the tablets, the passenger was trying to put them back into her luggage. When asked about the medicine, the passenger looked worried and confused. While searching her body, she was again asked by the officer about the medicine.

The passenger said a compatriot man back home had asked her to carry the bag to Dubai and to hand it over to a person in a hotel in Naif area. The man promised to pay her PR20,000.

She admitted that she was accompanied by another woman, who could not fly on the same flight and was stranded at the airport back home.

“She asked me to carry her bag which she was supposed to carry,” the accused told investigators.

The accused admitted to the charge and asked the jury for mercy saying it was a mistake.