A man who smuggled drugs into Dubai though the airport only to be caught under the influence of narcotics a few days later will spend seven years in prison. The Afghani defendant, 27, swallowed a bag containing 17 methamphetamine tablets to smuggle them through Dubai International Airport on March 22. He evaded customs officers but, a few days later, was reported to police for behaving strangely. The security guard of a building in Bur Dubai called police after seeing the man walking as though he was afraid to have his feet touch the ground. When approached by a CID officer, the accused told him he had swallowed the bagged drugs with yogurt. The officer took him into Bur Dubai police station where, during questioning, the defendant was incoherent and kept raising his feet from the ground, according to court records.<br/> "He kept asking for water and wouldn't sit straight. When we asked him why, he admitted he swallowed drugs and was paid $1500 (Dh5,500) to do so," said an Emirati officer.<br/> The man said he was supposed to regurgitate the tablets to deliver to a man he did not know in Dubai. At Dubai Criminal Court in June, the man admitted to smuggling drugs but said he was not aware that the tablets were drugs.<br/> On Monday, he was sentenced to seven years in prison and fined Dh50,000 for smuggling drugs.<br/> He will be deported after serving his prison sentence, which can be appealed in two weeks.
