Three students denied hiding the body of their friend after he died of a heroin overdose, Dubai Criminal Court heard.
Prosecutors said the Emirati deceased, identified only as Harib, was reported missing by his family on August 31 this year after he failed to return to his home in Al Warqaa.
Officers were assigned to look for the victim and called the deceased's friends, including two of the defendants.
"The two, both aged 19, said they didn't know anything about [his whereabouts]," said a CID lieutenant, 29.
The following day, Harib's corpse was found in the driver's seat of his car, which was ditched in the sand in the Lihbab area, meters from a main road.
The lieutenant added that hours after the dead body was found, one of the defendants called police saying that he had information about the circumstances of the victim's death.
"The defendant arrived at Lihbab Police station with a second defendant. They said that a third friend, aged 18, called them from the victim's phone the night the victim went missing and told them to hurry because Harib had died," said the officer.
Records show that the 18-year-old Emirati had met with Harib on the day of his death, and at 10pm had used his phone to call the other two defendants and inform them that Harib had passed away.
"The two met with the third accused in Al Warqaa area at around 2am and they said that he was the one who suggested they hide the body or get rid of it. They also said it was him who injected Harib with heroin and he had informed them that when he noticed Harib's condition was deteriorating, he injected him with citric acid in an attempt to revive him," said the officer.
The 18-year-old was then apprehended and questioned by police. He told officers that the deceased had come to meet him that day, but was not in good condition and asked him to drive his car for him.
"He said that shortly after he took the driver's seat, he noticed that Harib was not moving. He stopped and checked his breath, but the man was not breathing so he panicked and called his friends. When they came, he drove the car to a remote area in Lihbab, placed Harib in the driver seat and collected all the heroin syringes from the car before all three fled," said the officer.
The three defendants were charged with hiding a dead body, which they denied.
One of them was additionally charged with consuming heroin, to which he admitted. Another denied an additional charge of facilitating drug consumption by injecting Harib with heroin, leading to his death.
The next hearing will be on December 17.
