DUBAI, 19 July 2007 — Following a tip-off, Dubai Police arrested an Iranian national who was trying to sell half a kilo of heroin worth 60,000 dirhams ($16,300) concealed in women’s stockings.
Anti-narcotic officers from the Dubai Criminal Investigation Department received a tip-off last month from an informer that the man, who went by the name of Abu Hatim, was looking for buyers.
Anti-narcotics officers investigated the lead and laid a trap.
A police officer posed as a buyer and called Abu Hatim, who agreed to meet him at the Bani Yas Square in Deira.
The Iranian national kept calling the officer from a public phone and repeatedly changed the meeting point as a precautionary measure.
They then met near a supermarket in Deira where Abu Hatim handed the drug to the officer and received payment.
When the exchange was made, the anti-narcotics police, who had surrounded the area, descended on the scene and arrested the man red-handed.
Following his arrest, Abu Hatim was made to undergo a drugs test. The suspect has been remanded in custody while awaiting trial.
The Public Prosecution has charged him with the possession and trafficking of drugs, crimes that carry no less than four years in jail.
Less than a month ago, Dubai Police foiled a group’s bid to sell more than 23 kilos of heroin, which were hidden in horseradishes.
Traffickers had hidden the drugs in capsules, which were then inserted into the radishes and then sewn shut.
One of the traffickers, who was arrested, confessed that he had swallowed some of the drugs, which had been in capsules.
The culprits, an Asian and African national, had previously imported similar amounts of drugs into the country using a similar method.
The gang had also sent some radish consignments to the UK.
After being tipped off by Dubai Police, the British authorities arrested the smugglers who received the consignment.
