(MENAFN- Khaleej Times)Â A woman, who was caught at the airport trying to smuggle more than 3.5kg of cocaine by hiding it in her underwear, has been sentenced to 15 years in prison and fined Dh200,000.
The Court of First Instance ordered the 24-year-old South African woman be deported after serving her prison time.
She earlier alleged in the court that a Brazil-based gang threatened to kill her if she did not smuggle the drugs. The defendant was arrested at the Dubai International Airport on January 24 with the drugs strapped under her clothes. She has been on trial on a charge of smuggling drugs by transit.
A woman police sergeant said during the investigation that the defendant was arrested at Terminal 3. "It was around 1.15am when the accused arrived. She was travelling by transit."
The sergeant was asked to search the defendant after the latter raised the suspicions of another police officer. "She looked very afraid and tense."
The transit passenger was reluctant to lower her underwear. "I spotted a thickness in her underwear and with my insistence she took it down. I found she had a quantity of cocaine strapped with an adhesive tape." The accused told the sergeant that she was to hand the drugs over to a man in South Africa. No other drugs were found in her baggage.
According to the Criminal Evidence report, the quantity of drugs seized from the accused was cocaine and weighed more than 3.5kg. The verdict is subject to appeal within 15 days.
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