Hashish-stuffed chicken carrier acquitted

An Egyptian garage owner had been charged for importing drugs after the bird was found in one of his suitcases.

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ABU DHABI // A man has been cleared of smuggling hashish inside a frozen chicken. Egyptian KA, a garage owner in Mussafah, had been charged with possessing and importing drugs after a customs officer at Abu Dhabi International Airport found 3.2 grams of hashish inside the bird in one of his suitcases. He claimed the drug did not belong to him and that someone with a "grudge" against him had set him up.

He had returned to Abu Dhabi following a two-month trip to Egypt to visit his wife and two sons. The Criminal Court of First Instance yesterday cleared him on the ground that there was no evidence he knew about the drug. He said the brother of a friend had asked him to deliver a bag of food to his sibling in Abu Dhabi. KA testified it was the first time he had met the man. KA's lawyer told the court on Sunday that a man in Abu Dhabi called the anti-narcotics police and tipped them off. This phone call suggested it was a set-up, the lawyer said.

"I have been in this country for 15 years and I have never done anything wrong," KA told previous hearings. "I am a straight person. I would not bring this poison here." @Email:hhassan@thenational.ae