DUBAI // Three men were caught smuggling more than 220 kilograms of hashish and almost 20,000 tramadol tablets, a court heard yesterday.
They were arrested as part of a police sting operation. An undercover officer arranged to buy some of the drugs, which were hidden on a boat on Dubai Creek that came from Iran.
Officers raided the boat and found bags containing 222.8kg of hashish and 19,930 tramadol tablets hidden in the diesel tank.
Shortly after the men were arrested, the owner of the boat called one of them from Iran. A policeman answered and the owner, not knowing he was speaking to an officer, arranged a drug deal.
The three Iranians – A Z, 31, E P, 31, and M F, 50 – denied charges of smuggling and possessing drugs at the Criminal Court. A fourth Iranian, A A, 35, confessed to smuggling 10,350 tramadol tablets but claimed they were for his personal use. He confessed to a charge of using drugs.
The case was adjourned until November 4 so lawyers can be assigned to the defendants.
salamir@thenational.ae
