Dubai duo jailed 7 years for failed smuggling bid

DUBAI // Two men who tried to smuggle almost 300,000 Captagon tablets into the country have been sentenced to seven years in prison and fined Dh50,000.

Customs officers at Jebel Ali Port found the pills inside a shipment of garments and set up a sting operation after finding that the man who came to pick up the shipment knew nothing about the drugs.

They followed him as he delivered the shipment to two other men - BM, 30, from Saudi Arabia, and NM, 22, an Emirati.

The two were arrested at the Hyatt Regency Hotel on July 24 last year, and admitted under interrogation that half of the drugs were to be distributed in the UAE and the rest in Saudi Arabia.

When they appeared at the Criminal Court both men denied drug trafficking charges but were found guilty. The Saudi Arabian will be deported after serving his prison term.

salamir@thenational.ae