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29 March 2024

Asian drug dealer saved from gallows

Published
By Staff

An Asian drug dealer who tried to smuggle heroin into the UAE in his stomach was saved from the gallows when an appeals court in Abu Dhabi reduced his death sentence to 10 years in jail, newspapers said on Thursday.

The defendant had been arrested at Abu Dhabi airport trying to smuggle 616 gm of heroin stuffed in 96 capsules concealed inside his stomach.

Customs authorities at the airport had suspected the man when he looked pale and could hardly walk. At hospital, images showed the capsules inside his belly and the man was given laxatives to push the narcotics out of his body.

The defendant had told police he did not know the capsules contained drugs and that he had agreed with a man in his home country to transport the stuff to a source inside the UAE in return for money.

Newspapers said the court on Wednesday also fined the defendant Dh50,000 and ordered his deportation from the UAE after completing his jail term.

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