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28 March 2024

How 'heroin deal' saved him from death

Published
By Staff

A young man who was sentenced to death by an Abu Dhabi criminal court for trying to smuggle nearly half kg of heroin was later acquitted after tests showed most of the narcotics he had concealed in his shoes were a fake.

The man had sneaked into the UAE from another country with the drugs given to him by a narcotics dealer, who supplied him with a contact number for delivery.
Once he reached Iran’s border, he was transported by sea towards Oman before crossing the border in Al Ain and entering the UAE.

Just after he was in the UAE, he used a taxi driver’s mobile phone and contacted the person to whom he was to deliver the drugs.
“To his surprise, the person was a police man, who swopped on him along with other police men. The man surrendered easily as he was too tired to resist,” the Sharjah-based Arabic language daily Al Khaleej said.

“He was then sentenced to death for trying to smuggle heroin and for having drugs. But an appeals court later acquitted him after tests showed only two per cent of the heroin was real.
“Tests also showed the traces of drugs in his blood were because part of the heroin concealed in his shoes entered his blood after he was injured on his way.”

The paper said the court of appeals also took into consideration the “impoverished” conditions of the man and the dubious circumstances surrounding the smuggling operation as he was given a police man’s contact number.

It said the acquittal was rejected by the prosecutor who appealed the verdict with the Court of Cassation.

“The young man will have a new trial with a new court panel,” it said without identifying the defendant.