Narcotics dealer handed life in prison

DUBAI // A man who claimed he was repaying money he owed a friend when he was held in a drugs sting has been jailed for life.

Dubai Criminal Court convicted Bangladeshi S P of a charge of having 10 capsules of methamphetamine in his possession to sell.

The 35-year-old denied the charge in court in October last year. “The man I met is my friend from whom I had borrowed some money,” he said.

“The day I was arrested, I saw him and paid him what I owed him. I have no idea where these drug capsules came from. I had no capsules on me at the time of arrest.”

Prosecutors said Dubai Police were tipped off about S P and placed him under surveillance. “We learnt he was offering the drugs for Dh700, so we arranged for a source to meet the defendant by posing as a buyer,” said policeman R A.

The officer said S P and the source met in a car park in Al Mutainah on April 20 last year and S P was arrested after giving money to the source.

S P was fined Dh50,000 and will be deported after serving his life term of 25 years.