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Law enforcement officers were said to have stopped the 33-year-old Indian housewife, A.G., in possession of 255gm of poppy seeds at Dubai International Airport in August.
Drugs prosecutors accused A.G. of smuggling and possessing poppy seeds for her personal consumption.
“I did bring those seeds with me, but I did not know that it was a banned substance. I usually buy them for cooking,” argued the suspect when she entered a not guilty plea before the Dubai Court of First Instance.
“How come you did not know? Didn’t you know that these seeds are used for growing?” presiding judge Mohammad Jamal asked the suspect.
“Not at all. In my country, we use these seeds for cooking. I did not know that it is a banned substance,” she replied.
Meanwhile A.G.’s lawyer Saeed Al Gailani contended in court that his client was unfoundedly and illegally detained by Customs officers at the airport.
“Why did the Customs officer stop her? What did she do? What sort of suspicious behaviour did she commit to be detained and searched? Nothing. She did nothing wrong. The Customs officer did not have the legal justification to stop her. The law enforcement procedures were carried out improperly and unlawfully against my client,” contended Al Gailani.
“The defendant is a mother of five children and she wouldn’t have risked her life and that of her family had she known that those seeds were drugs,” the lawyer told the court.
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