Despite the UAE’s strict, zero-tolerance policy against illegal substances, many are still being arrested for possession and consumption of these banned items.
A Filipina residing in Dubai is currently on the receiving end of the UAE’s stiff judicial penalties for supplying narcotics to his lover.
According to Gulf News article written by Bassam Za’za’, Legal and Court Correspondent, the 29-year-old Filipina appeared before the Dubai Court of First Instance on Monday (August 15, 2017) and pleaded guilty to the crime.
In May, the Filipina and her boyfriend were arrested by drug enforcement officers at her apartment after they received a tip from an informant, the report said.
Upon searching the flat, the officers found minute traces of narcotics hidden in a sunglasses case. The woman also tested positive for both drugs.
“We apprehended the man and the Filipina and took them to the anti-narcotics department for a drug test. During questioning, the man admitted the suspect had facilitated him with methamphetamine that he consumed at the flat. The suspect admitted that she gets the banned substances from a third suspect, who remains at large,” Gulf News quoted the anti-narcotics police lieutenant as saying during his court testimony.
Her boyfriend, who has been charged with consuming the illegal substances, has been referred to the Dubai Misdemeanour Court.
Amendments to the Anti-Narcotics Law took effect on November 2016, downgrading the use of illegal drugs to a misdemeanor will make jail time for first-time offenders two years instead of the previous four years in prison.
As for those found guilty of inducing, inciting, or facilitating the perpetration of any of the illegal drugs-related offences of another person, a penalty of imprisonment of not less than five years and a fine of not less than Dh20,000 will be imposed.
