DUBAI // Two traders will spend 10 years in jail for importing three million Tramadol pills to sell, Dubai Criminal Court decided on Sunday.
They were also fined Dh20,000 and will be deported after serving their prison sentences.
The Iranian pair, both 41, denied importing drugs with the intention of selling them at an earlier hearing.
On January 15 last year, Dubai Customs suspected a shipment coming from India had contraband and inspected its contents using an X-ray machine.
“We found a large number of tablets inside therefore checked the shipment’s documents and found that its owner has registered the contents as medical tools,” testified an Emirati inspector, 39.
On February 25 last year, the company’s manager was questioned and he told inspectors that he imports the tablets from India to ship them via sea to Iran, the inspector added.
“We then contacted the [police] anti-narcotics department,” he said.
Police checked the company’s history and found it had imported several other shipments, all of which had been released from port.
“When the Ministry of Health system was checked, the company was found not to be registered,” the inspector added.
Both defendants told the court that they work in supplying medicine and that the tablets were to be distributed to several Iranian health institutions.
salamir@thenational.ae