Undercover police in Valium sting

Abu Dhabi Criminal Court hears a Palestinian woman tried to sell Dh300,000 worth of black-market pills.

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ABU DHABI // Undercover police trapped a woman who was selling Dh300,000 (US$82,000) worth of Valium pills, the Abu Dhabi Criminal Court heard yesterday. On February 10, a Palestinian woman, identified as FA, met an Emirati man whom she thought would buy the pills from her. "She was driving a white Nissan, and it was 12.45am when she came. She flashed her headlights, and I followed her in my car to an empty car park," one of the officers, who had been posing as a buyer, testified in court. "She came into the front seat of my car and handed me two plastic bags full with the Valium pills."

The officer said he paid the woman Dh300,000 for the pills. "She took the money and packed it into her chest," he said. Another undercover officer was 50 metres away, waiting to order the woman's arrest by a team of uniformed female officers. "We were waiting for the signal we agreed on. He pressed the brake three times and that's when female officers moved in and recovered the Dh300,000 from her chest," the second undercover officer told the court.

FA pleaded not guilty. She said another woman gave her the drugs, which she did not know were illegal, to give to the Emirati man. She could face the death penalty, if convicted. "She told me that all I have to collect is the money from him and she would pay me to do this," FA testified. Valium is a controlled substance and is legally available by prescription only. The next hearing in the trial will be on April 11.

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