DUBAI: Abu Dhabi police have seized 16 kilograms (34 pounds) of heroin which three Afghans and a Pakistani tried to sell to undercover agents, The National newspaper reported on Wednesday.
An agent posing as a buyer contacted one of the four traffickers and agreed to buy the heroin, which had been smuggled into the country in boxes of fruit, for about $261,500, the paper said.
A Pakistani and an Afghan who delivered the drugs to a hotel room in Abu Dhabi were arrested and charged with trafficking. Two other Afghans remain at large and will be tried in absentia.
The four face the death penalty if convicted. However, executions are rare in the United Arab Emirates, where death sentences are usually commuted to life in prison.
