British tourist caught with cocaine and ecstasy in Dubai to spend life in prison

DUBAI// A tourist caught with cocaine and the psychoactive drug MDMA will spend his life in jail, a Dubai court has ruled.

The British 22-year-old was found guilty of selling and taking drugs after he was arrested in the street outside his Dubai apartment.

It followed a tip off to Dubai Police's anti-drug unit last July.

Police found 53 grams of cocaine and a total of 9,391 tablets of MDMA, a type of ecstasy, in the defendant’s possession.

"It was nearly 2am when we apprehended him under his residential building. He and his apartment were searched,” a police officer, 24 testified.

He added that tablets were found in the man’s pocket. When his flat was searched police found eight mobile phones and numbers that was used to promote and sell drugs. Court records show that a plastic bag with remains of cocaine as well as a set of scales were also found.

“We also found a large number of the tablets shaped like mushrooms in his apartment and hidden inside a plastic bag that was stashed inside another bag,” said the policeman.

The Brit admitted to selling and taking cocaine during police questioning, although in court he denied this and only admitted using the drug.

The sentence can be appealed within the next 15 days.

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