A man who agreed to deliver 144 boxes containing drugs for Dh1 each will now have to pay a fine of Dh50,000 after he was convicted of possession.
Dubai Criminal Court sentenced the 25-year-old Pakistani to three years in prison to be followed by deportation, as well as the fine.
Records show that the defendant accepted Dh144 for the shipment of banned amphetamines and tranquilisers, and was caught while moving them from his pick-up truck to a hotel in Dubai.
Prosecutors said the driver was handling 293 kilograms of Valium, Xanax, Rivotril and methamphetamines.
Last month in court, the accused denied being knowingly involved in the smuggling or sale of drugs.
"I didn't know what the boxes contained. I was hired by a man and paid Dh1 for each box I carried," he told a judge.
An officer said police had tracked the shipment from Jebel Ali Port after a tip-off. "As part of our investigations, we discovered that a suspicious shipment was released from Jebel Ali Port," a 52-year-old officer testified.
He said that on November 21 last year, the team tracked the shipment to the fruit and vegetable market in Ras Al Khor, where they saw the suspect loading boxes into his pick-up truck.
"We followed him to the Naif area [of Deira] and watched as he unloaded the entire shipment and started carrying the boxes into a hotel across the street."
When they arrested the man, officers found drugs wrapped in rolls of fabric inside the boxes.
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In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
UAE gold medallists:
Omar Al Suweidi (46kg), Khaled Al Shehhi (50kg), Khalifa Humaid Al Kaabi (60kg), Omar Al Fadhli (62kg), Mohammed Ali Al Suweidi (66kg), Omar Ahmed Al Hosani (73), all in the U18’s, and Khalid Eskandar Al Blooshi (56kg) in the U21s.
Look north
BBC business reporters, like a new raft of government officials, are being removed from the national and international hub of London and surely the quality of their work must suffer.
Our legal consultant
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
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Tips for job-seekers
- Do not submit your application through the Easy Apply button on LinkedIn. Employers receive between 600 and 800 replies for each job advert on the platform. If you are the right fit for a job, connect to a relevant person in the company on LinkedIn and send them a direct message.
- Make sure you are an exact fit for the job advertised. If you are an HR manager with five years’ experience in retail and the job requires a similar candidate with five years’ experience in consumer, you should apply. But if you have no experience in HR, do not apply for the job.
David Mackenzie, founder of recruitment agency Mackenzie Jones Middle East
The specs
Engine: 2.0-litre four-cylinder turbo
Power: 178hp at 5,500rpm
Torque: 280Nm at 1,350-4,200rpm
Transmission: seven-speed dual-clutch auto
Price: from Dh209,000
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The specs
Engine: 4.0-litre flat-six
Torque: 450Nm at 6,100rpm
Transmission: 7-speed PDK auto or 6-speed manual
Fuel economy, combined: 13.8L/100km
On sale: Available to order now
