DUBAI // Three men appeared in court on Sunday on drugs charges after police found 640 kilograms of amphetamine pills in a warehouse raid.
O A, 30, E A, 35, and M Z, 30, all from Syria, are accused of possessing the drugs with intent to sell. Two other men are still wanted by police in connection with the haul.
Prosecutors said O A confessed during interrogations that he met another Syrian man in Sharjah, whom he identified as Abu Mohammed, who asked him to find him a driver who was willing to deliver some pills to Saudi Arabia in return for Dh25,000.
The driver he hired, however, was actually a police informant.
O A told prosecutors that this was his only role in the operation. He was arrested in a cafe in the Bu Hail area during a police sting.
E A told prosecutors that he was contacted by a man in Lebanon identified as Abu Soud, who asked him to rent a warehouse in Dubai and paid him Dh85,000 for that purpose.
“After I rented the place, he sent three cars and ordered me to hide them in the warehouse, which I did. He then asked me to take the bags hidden inside the cars and use a scale to put 120kg of the pills in each bag,” said EA.
He said that Abu Soud called him again and asked him to place the bags inside a car that was parked in a sandy area in Al Qusais.
“I went with M Z and we were arrested there,” he said.
Police then raided the warehouse, where they found the pills.
O A faces an additional charge of consuming drugs.
The next hearing will be on July 6.
salamir@thenational.ae
