Man held for smuggling drugs into UAE

A visitor went on trial accused of carrying tramadol in his luggage and trying to smuggle the drugs into the country.

Abu Dhabi Criminal Court heard that the Egyptian national was stopped at the Abu Dhabi International Airport early in May after security authorities found 95 tramadol pills being hidden inside his bag.

The man, who was visiting the UAE, had just arrived on a flight from Cairo and was still in the arrival hall when custom officers suspected him.

Officers waited him to check in and after getting all his baggage, he was taken for a special check-up.

Custom officers scanned his baggage and found tramadol in one of the bags.

And during police interrogations, the Egyptian man denied carrying tramadol pills and trying to smuggle the drugs into the country.

He told the judge that the bag containing pills was given to him by his cousin's wife back home to help bring it to her husband in Abu Dhabi and that he had no idea there were drugs inside.

The man's lawyer said there was no criminal intent in his client's case.

He argued that the defendant didn't know that the bag which he received from his cousin's wife contained narcotics. And that according to the prosecutors's records, they summoned  the defendant's cousin by calling him, but he ran away when he knew that his cousin was arrested.

The trial was adjourned until June 20.

Source: Khaleej Times