Dubai appeal court hands life sentences to three Filipino crystal meth dealers

The three were convicted by the Dubai Criminal Court of possessing drugs with the intent to sell.

DUBAI // Three Filipinos who were jailed for a year for selling crystal meth have had their sentences increased to life terms by the Court of Appeal.

D S, 30, G B, 27 and F A, 31 were all convicted by the Dubai Criminal Court of possessing drugs with the intent to sell.

G B and F A were also convicted of consuming drugs. They were each given a year in jail to be followed by deportation, plus fines of Dh20,000 each.

Emirati police officer S G, 35 told the court: “We received a tip that D S was selling crystal meth so we moved to the location to monitor him.”

They gave a police informant Dh700 to purchase the drugs.

S G said: “After our arrival in the area, D S came down from a building and got into the car of our informant and drove away until they reached a building near Al Moraqabat Police station.”

The car parked and G B came down from the building, then sat in the back seat behind D S.

“After a while, the informant gave the signal that the drug transaction has been completed,” said the policeman.

They arrested the suspects and found they were in possession of the money they had given to the informant.

“Our informant also gave us a plastic bag that contained the methamphetamine” said SG.

During prosecution interrogations, GB confessed that he bought the drugs from F A for Dh500, and that he wanted to sell it to the informant for Dh700 to make a Dh200 profit.

The appeal court also increased the three defendants’ fines to Dh50,000 each.