DUBAI // Four men who denied that they had 82 grams of hashish to sell, claiming it was for their personal use, have all been convicted and jailed for terms ranging from six months to five years.
Indians F M, 19, M A, 24, and M B, 23, all denied the charge, while M S, 24, did not show up to enter a plea at the first hearing last May.
Police had been tipped off that F M was going to sell drugs to an informant so they issued search and arrest warrants against him on November 26, 2013.
Emirati police officer K A, 22, testified that at 9.30pm on that day a group of anti-narcotics officers went to a petrol station in Nad Al Hamar, where the 19-year-old was due to sell the drugs.
“We gave the informant Dh800 to use in the sale but we had photographed the notes before. The informant then went inside F M’s car and came out three minutes later signalling to us that the deal was done,” said K A.
Police then approached F M and showed him the warrants before finding the money in his wallet. M A was in the car with him at the time.
“The informant then handed us a plastic bag containing the hashish that he purchased,” added K A.
The rest of the drugs were found inside the car.
F M and M A told police that they got the drugs from M S, who lived in Al Ain and who was later arrested.
“We found two bags of hashish in M S’s residence and he told us that he got the drugs from M B to sell it and earn some money,” said police officer H A, 47.
F M was sentenced to six months in jail; M A was sentenced to four years; and M B and M S were each sentenced to five years and fined Dh20,000. It was not clear why F M and M A’s sentences were different.
Dubai Criminal Court ruled that all of them will be deported after completing their jail terms.
salamir@thenational.ae