(MENAFN- Khaleej Times) The Abu Dhabi Criminal Court of First Instance on Tuesday sentenced a 33-year-old Emirati man to life imprisonment for possessing and peddling in hashish and another four years in prison for using hashish.
The court has ordered the confiscation and destruction of the haul seized.
According to the case, police detectives came to know that the Emirati had been trading in hashish. Acting on that, a sleuth of the Anti-Narcotics Department posed as a buyer to the accused ands told him that he was interested in buying hashish. Days later, the accused called the "buyer" and told him that he had 3kg of hashish and that he was willing to sell it for Dh36,000. Both agreed on the deal.
The culprit was apprehended red-handed when he unfolded a packet and showed the hashish to the undercover cop.
The accused confessed to using hashish before the Public Prosecution and the court, but denied peddling in it, claiming that the quantity of hashish found with him was just for his own use.
As per the UAE federal law No. (14) for the year 1995 and its amended federal law No. (5) for the year 2005, dealing in drugs could invite a maximum penalty of capital punishment. However, the court did not award him the maximum penalty owing to lack of unanimity among members of the bench, a judicial source said. The law makes a condition that "to hand down a death sentence, there must be judicial unanimity; otherwise, the penalty must be reduced to life imprisonment".
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