DUBAI, UAE – A UAE court sentenced a British tourist after she was caught in possession of CBD oil, which is considered a drug and narcotic in the country.
The tourist is a 31-year-old British woman who was initially sentenced on Monday by the Dubai Court of Appeals to ten years in jail plus a $13,600 fine as well as a deportation order, but she will now only serve her time in jail. The woman was charged after she was found trying to smuggle around 4.4 kilograms of CBD oil through the UAE airport in April.
Based on the report from Gulf News, the defendant was found to have had 307 pods of marijuana oil or CBD oil. Moreover, she was also found with around 1.4 grams of cocaine during her detainment period.
The Dubai Court of First Instance gave the initial sentence of ten years in jail with $13,600 (50,000 dirhams) fine and a deportation order to the woman. However, the lawyer of the defendant appealed her first sentence citing that the woman had no criminal intent, didn’t have any idea that the substance she was carrying is illegal in the country, and never tried to hide the evidence.
Now, the woman will only be facing her jail time unless she appeals to the second judgment in a court of cassation, which is only applicable for the next 30 days.
Meanwhile, Brigadier Eid Thani Hared, Dubai Police’s director of the Anti-Narcotics Department, recently stated that there is an increasing number of cases of seizures in people bringing CBD oil in the emirate.
The Passenger Operations Department of the Dubai Customers had previously revealed that compared to the seven seizures of CBD oil during the first quarter of 2018, it has increased to 87 during the same period in 2019.
Two incidents of seizures of CBD oil involving American tourists were recorded in recent months. One incident was of an American man caught in possession of 11 CBD oil pods, while the other case was of a tourist carrying 37 pods amounting to around 675 grams of CBD oil.
The increasing number of seizures of CBD oil were reported despite the warning about the substance that was issued by the local police since last year.
UAE doesn’t tolerate drug use for recreational purposes and has been serious about fighting against drugs. Last year, city authorities had imposed a major crackdown on narcotics and drug use, which led to the arrest of 166 people sentenced in more than 71 drug-related cases.
The arrest of the woman bringing CBD oil is only one of the many arrests that the UAE police has made as the emirate dedicates its efforts into dealing with drug issues in the country.