Arab man tries to smuggle Dh60m worth of drugs in cheese, olive oil

The officer said after arresting the young man, the police searched for his vehicle and discovered the narcotic pills.

A 21-year-old Arab man has gone on trial accused of possessing more than a million amphetamine pills worth Dh60 million with the intention of promoting the drugs in the emirate.
The Abu Dhabi Federal Court of First Instance on Wednesday heard that Abu Dhabi Police's Anti-Narcotics Department caught the young man with amphetamine pills wrapped inside plastic bags and hidden inside blocks of cheese and eggplants.
The drugs were being carried in transparent jars filled with olive oil.
Official court documents stated that a team from the Anti-Narcotics Department launched an investigation after being informed that an Arab man possessed a huge quantity of drugs and was trying to promote it among UAE residents.
The officers had tracked down the young man and monitored his movements and caught him in Mohammed bin Zayed City while he was carrying the drugs. The accused was caught with another man, also an Arab who dealt with drugs too. The second man has also been charged in the case.
A prosecution witness, a police officer who was involved in the arrest of the men, told the court that police was tipped off about the young's man involvement in promoting drugs.
"Information details we received showed that the man possessed a huge amount of narcotics and psychotropic substances with the intention of distributing them among residents in the emirate," said the officer.
The officer said after arresting the young man, the police searched for his vehicle and discovered the narcotic pills.
The man confessed to possessing and dealing with drugs. He also led police to his house where he was hiding other narcotics.
Police said that in the house, they found a weighing scale, 16 rubbish bags, 10 plastic bags and travel bags that contained more than one million pills.
The man told cops that the drugs belonged to him and his friend - the second defendant.
Police have arrested the second man near his home in commercial Mussafah area.
The lawyer of the first defendant said she will present her client's defence in the next hearing.
The trial was adjourned to a future date.
ismail@khaleejtimes.com