Police tricked me into handing over drugs, accused says

An Emirati man said he was tricked by anti-narcotics police into handing them a sample of hashish, the Criminal Court of First Instance in Abu Dhabi hears.

ABU DHABI // An Emirati man said he was tricked by anti-narcotics police into handing them a sample of hashish, the Criminal Court of First Instance heard yesterday.

JH, who said he was a police officer himself, is charged with possession of hash with the intent to use it. He said anti-narcotics officers approached him on October 12 as he left his office about 2pm and began searching him and his car looking for drugs. The officers then searched his house, but did not find anything.

"They told me: 'We will make a deal with you: if you cooperate with us and hand us some of a drug that you have, we will make you sign a pledge that you will not use drugs again, and since you're with us in the police and it's your first time we will pardon you'," JH testified.

So out of trust in the officers, he said, he retrieved a small sample of hash he had hidden in his couch, "in a place that even a blue genie could not reach".

JH said he went with the officers to the police station, where they told him they would wait for the station director to arrive so he could sign the pledge. Instead, JH said, he was detained.

The defendant said he had taken drugs before, but argued he was innocent because he was not caught in the act.

The verdict will be announced on November 23.

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