Dubai carpenter has sentence increased for selling marijuana

Bangladeshi had four-year sentence increased after prosecutors appealed against verdict for possessing almost 5 grams of the drug.

DUBAI // A carpenter’s four-year prison term for possessing 4.78g of marijuana to sell was increased to life at the Court of Appeal on Wednesday.

Prosecutors won their appeal against the verdict handed to Bangladeshi 22-year-old M R.

Dubai Police’s anti-narcotics department had been tipped off about the carpenter.

“We know he was offering some of the drugs for sale in return for Dh500, so we assigned an undercover police source to pose as buyer,” testified Emirati lieutenant K A, 23.

He said the two agreed to meet in Al Murar on June 20 last year and the meeting point was surrounded by officers.

“When M R met with our source then handed him the drugs, we arrested him immediately,” said K A, who added that the carpenter denied knowing what he had just handed to the police source, saying a man had asked him to make the delivery and return with the cash.

Police did not find any more drugs after searching M R and his home.

Last October, at the criminal court, the carpenter denied a charge of possessing marijuana to sell. He was sentenced to four years and deportation but prosecutors have now managed to secure a tougher life sentence of 25 years.