Dubai businessman jailed for smuggling 13kg of cannabis seeds

DUBAI // A businessman previously found not guilty of smuggling 13 kilograms of cannabis seeds into the UAE has been jailed.

Iranian A Z, 55, had been acquitted of smuggling and possession of the seeds when he appeared before the Dubai Criminal Court on March 17 this year. A further charge of intent to supply had already been dropped by the court.

However, on Sunday the appeals court overturned his acquittal and sentenced A Z to 10 years in jail and fined him Dh50,000

Prosecutors said that on June 27 last year a customs inspector at Dubai airport became suspicious of an item in A Z’s bag when it passed through the X-ray scanner.

“I suspected a plastic bag inside his luggage that contained seeds and when I asked him about it he said it was food for birds and that if it was banned in Dubai, he didn’t know that,” testified customs inspector A S, 27.

A Z will be deported after completing his jail term.

tzriqat@thenational.ae