DUBAI // A man caught with more than 1kg of heroin and diazepam told a judge yesterday he did not know he was being entrusted with drugs.
Pakistani labourer RH, 25, told judge Al Saeed Mohammad Barghout, of the Dubai Criminal Court of First Instance, that a man in Pakistan only told him that he would be carrying something of value to pass on to someone in Dubai.
However, police said RH had earlier told them that he had swallowed 135 capsules containing the drugs and then passed them after arrival in Dubai.
RH had received instructions from a man in Pakistan who paid him 200,000 Pakistani rupees (Dh8,700), police said.
They also said RH had earlier delivered 130 other capsules to an Omani national in a car park in Deira.
RH is being charged with possession of 135 capsules containing 1.066kg of the drugs heroin and diazepam.
In a statement to prosecutors, KA, 35, an Emirati policeman, said police had received reliable information from the anti-drug department that RH was in possession of drugs and that he planned to hand them over to a person in the Emirates.
After confirming the information and receiving a warrant for his arrest, police cornered RH at 8pm on January 9 near Dubai International Airport.
The officer said that when police asked RH if he had drugs in his possession, he told them he kept some at his work accommodation in Jebel Ali.
RH took police to his room and he pulled out a green suitcase that contained 135 capsules that appeared to be heroin, KA said.
When an officer asked RH where he got the drugs, he told them he got them from a man in Pakistan before consuming them and bringing them into the UAE. RH told officers he was waiting to receive information from the Pakistani on what to do with the drugs.
RH contests the police claims and the case has been adjourned until June 5.