ABU DHABI// A drug smuggler has been cleared thanks to police errors during his arrest.
The man was detained at Abu Dhabi Airport and was found with more than 107 heroin capsules in his stomach.
Officers said he was arrested after he appeared unwell and an inspection uncovered the drug stash.
But his lawyer discovered that a Dubai police officer knew his client would be arriving in the UAE carrying the heroin and had issued a general alert to apprehend him.
As police planned to arrest him, they should have applied to the public prosecution for a warrant.
The Appeals Court summoned the policeman and asked why he did not follow correct operational procedures in seeking a warrant.
The officer said he had been unsure which emirate's airport or border crossing the man would arrive at.
But the judge told him he could have applied for a warrant through the federal public prosecution.
The smuggler had been convicted by the Criminal Court and sentenced to death.
A lawyer for his appeal was appointed by the courts. Appointed lawyers charge basic fees of between Dh2,000 to 5,000, but this lawyer's considerable efforts prompted the judge to raise his fees to Dh25,000.
hdajani@thenational.ae
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The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
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The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
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