DEALERS GET DEATH FOR TRAFFICKING CANNABIS

The Dubai Supreme Court has handed death sentence to two of six drug
smugglers who set fire to a boat containing two tonnes of cannabis as an
Anti Narcotics Squad approached them off the Dubai coast.

The rest of the gang got life imprisonment followed by deportation. The six
Iranian smugglers attempted to bring the contraband from Iran to Dubai last
November.

The Supreme Court upheld the primary verdict which found Taher M.S., 34,
and Shani R.J., 54, guilty of possessing, smuggling and trafficking drugs,
as well as arson and endangering life.

Life sentences were given to Rashid L.M., 30, Safar W.Z., 37, Omar H.A.,
26, Shah B.A., 31, for involvement in the crimes. But they were acquitted
of arson and endangering lives during the raid.

The six smugglers were heard to have had more than 800kg of cannabis on
board their boat.

They had been caught following a tip-off from an informer on November 18,
as per which which one of the dealers had a huge amount of drugs on board
an Iranian ship somewhere along the Dubai coast. The gang had approached
the informer in the hope that he would help them sell the drugs.

Anti-narcotics officers assigned a secret agent to pose as a drug dealer
and negotiate a price. A second agent was asked to act as the buyer's son
and receive the drugs on the coast.

The deal was to buy more than 920kg at Dh4,500 a kg, amounting to around
Dh4.1 million. Another Dh265,000 would be paid to the sailors for
transferring the load.

The police gave the buyer Dh3million as part of the deal while the rest was
to be paid later. On the day of delivery, the drug-laden ship met off Dubai
coast with an unmarked ship carrying undercover Anti-Narcotics officers.

The sailors started handing over the drugs to the police ship, but one of
the accused soon discovered that the bank notes were actually coloured
photocopies. Suspecting the deal-makers could be undercover policemen, the
dealers set fire to the boat as per the orders of Shani.

However, police squad members jumped onto the Iranian ship to arrest the
men. Three smugglers surrendered, while another resisted. The boat's owner
tried to escape and after an hour-long chase, police shot him in the leg.

The bid to destroy the evidence backfired on the gang, who nearly died in
the blaze and had to be rescued by airborne police teams.