Crime doesn't pay: driver who accepted Dh140 to carry drug haul faces death sentence

Police caught Pakistani man in Dubai market unloading a massive 293kg of narcotics

A man who accepted Dh140 to drive a shipment of boxes containing drugs faces life in jail or even the death sentence after being caught red handed by police.

The Pakistani, 25, was in the process of carrying 144 boxes of banned amphetamines and tranquilisers from his pick-up truck to a hotel in Dubai when officers arrested him.

In total, the driver had 293kg of Valium, Xanax, Rivotril and methamphetamines in 144 boxes.

In court, the accused denied being involved in the smuggling or sale or drugs.

“I don't know what the boxes contained, I was hired by a man - and paid Dh1 for each box I carried,” he told a judge.

An officer said police tracked the shipment from Jebel Ali Port after a tip-off.

“As part of out investigations, we discovered that a suspicious shipment was released from Jebel Ali Port,” a 52-year-old officer testified.

He said that on November 21 the team tracked the shipment to the fruit and vegetable market in Ras Al Khor, where they saw the suspect loading boxes into his pick-up truck.

“We followed him to the Naif area [of Deira] and watched as he unloaded the entire shipment and started carrying the boxes into a hotel across the street."

When they arrested the man, officers found drugs wrapped in rolls of fabric inside the boxes.

The officer testified that he initially claimed he had no idea there were drugs inside, only to change his story and admit to knowing he was carrying drugs.

The next hearing will be on March 18.