A 30-year-old Pakistani has been sentenced to 15 years in prison and slapped with a hefty fine of over USD 54,000 in the UAE for smuggling heroin in bags containing copies of the Quran, prayer beads and other religious items.
Customs inspectors stopped the Pakistani passenger, identified only by his initials MT, at Dubai International Airport in June this year where he was caught in possession of 24 kg heroin that was hidden in his hand baggage.
Drugs prosecutors accused MT of smuggling and possessing heroin for promotional purposes.
However, the Dubai Court of First Instance scrapped the promotional intent and modified the accusation to smuggling and possessing drugs without any particular intent.
Drug possesion without the intent to promote the narcotics carries lighter sentence.
The passenger entered a guilty plea and confirmed that he brought the substance with him but said that he did not know what he carried.
When asked by presiding judge Mohammad Jamal about the purpose of bringing the banned substance with him from Pakistan, he replied: "A person handed me the five bags and asked me to take them to Dubai and give them to someone else."
The judge also fined MT with Dh 200,000 (USD 54,500) and he will be deported after serving his sentence, Gulf News reported.
"The scanning machine revealed that each of the five bags had a double-layered bottom. When we opened the bags, we found prayer mats, prayer beads and copies of the Quran along with food and the drugs," An Emirati customs inspector said.
"When MT went to pick up his bags at the carousel, he was taken into custody. The heroin was stacked inside nylon sacks wrapped with black tape," the inspector said.
He has 15 days to appeal the ruling by the Dubai court of first instance.
