Dubai prosecutors seek death for hotel drug bust

Drugs prosecutors are seeking the death sentence for a British visitor who was arrested last year when allegedly trying to sell 154 grams of cocaine in a hotel car park, reports Gulf News.

The British man stands accused of intending to sell the drugs to a police informant for AED 20,000 (US $5444) in the parking lot of a hotel.

Drug enforcement officers arrested the 31-year-old British visitor, H.A., during a sting operation while he was selling the drug to an informant inside the latter’s car.

“I did not possess the drug at all,” argued H.A. when he entered a not guilty plea before the Dubai Court of First Instance on Tuesday.

According to the charge sheet, the defendant possessed cocaine for peddling purposes.

His lawyer asked presiding judge Mohammad Jamal to adjourn the case until he photocopied the file and presented his defence when the court reconvenes on February 2. An Emirati anti-narcotics police captain testified that the suspect was caught red-handed in a sting operation in May 2013.

“An informant alerted Dubai Police’s anti-narcotics department that the defendant possessed cocaine and intended to sell it for AED 20,000. We provided the informant with police money that we photocopied in order to use as evidence against the suspect in court. The defendant agreed to meet the informant in the parking lot of a hotel on Shaikh Zayed Road. An anti-narcotics team arrested the defendant as soon as the informant signalled to them that the deal was sealed. On searching the Briton, police seized 11 plastic sacks from his wallet. More of the drug was also found inside his flat at Jumeirah Lakes Towers,” the captain claimed to prosecutors.

An Emirati policeman testified that the suspect admitted to him during questioning that he had sold the drug for an Emirati suspect named T.

“When I questioned him, he alleged that he got the drug from T. and intended to sell it for AED 20,000,” the policeman told prosecutors.

According to records, the so-called T. remains at large.

Last year, a  UAE hotel manager who was arrested for the possession and consumption of cocaine was sentenced by a Dubai court to four years in prison.