Woman jailed 10 years, fined Dh50,000 for smuggling 2.6kg cocaine in handbag

Woman jailed 10 years, fined Dh50,000 for smuggling 2.6kg cocaine in handbag A woman, who called herself stupid in court when she confessed to smuggling and possessing drugs, faces 10 years in jail By Bassam Za'Za', Senior ReporterPublished: 13:03 February 28, 2012 4 Dubai A woman, who called herself stupid when she confessed to smuggling and possessing drugs, faces 10 years in jail. The Dubai Court of First Instance convicted the 34-year-old Nigerian woman, B.O., of smuggling 2.6 kilograms of cocaine in to Dubai. “I am sorry sir. It was stupid enough of me that I did not examine what kind of substance I carried from Nigeria. I thought that I was carrying some kind of food supply,” B.O. argued when she defended herself in court. Presiding Judge Hamad Abdul Latif Abdul Jawad also fined B.O. Dh50,000. The accused will be deported following the completion of her punishment. Article continues below Drug prosecutors accused B.O. of smuggling and possessing 190 capsules that contained cocaine. “I did not know what substance I carried. A friend gave it to me at the airport and asked me to hand it over to another person. That person was supposed to pick it from me at the airport,” B.O. defended. An Emirati customs inspector testified that he was on duty when B.O. arrived at his counter. “I suspected her luggage and asked to search the bags. The scanner exposed some kind of oval pieces hidden between food supplies. My colleague discovered inside the bag small plastic sacks that contained white materials that looked like flour. The sacks contained nearly 190 white capsules. We referred B.O. and the possessions to Dubai Police’s anti-narcotics department for interrogation,” the inspector claimed to prosecutors.