Five Britons are due to appear in court in the United Arab Emirates on Sunday charged with drug offences, said reports.
The suspects, an air stewardess and four other Britons, are facing charges of drug trafficking, the Foreign Office said, quoted by AFP.
The exact charges faced by each individual are expected to become clear in court, but together the group is accused of possessing, using and trafficking cocaine and hashish, said BBC.online.
The five, in their late 20s and 30s, have been in custody in the emirate of Ras al-Khaimah, in the north of the country, since they were arrested there in November.
They include Emirates airline stewardess Katherine Jenkins, 29, from Neath, south Wales, Stacy Simpson, 28, and his 32-year-old girlfriend Anne Kidd, both from Leeds, and Danielle Mallouf, 28, from London.
The Foreign Office spokesman was quoted by the agency as saying the defendants "have all appointed local lawyers who will appear with them in court today.
"Our consular staff have visited them regularly to check on their welfare.”
In a related development, a four-member gang was caught red-handed Saturday by Sharjah Police while allegedly attempting to smuggle a kilo of heroin into the country, reported Gulf News. A spokesman was quoted by the paper as saying that the attempt was foiled when the Anti-Narcotics Section, acting on a tip-off, arrested three Asian men in their hotel room. The fourth member was an Arab woman from a GCC country.
"Police at a local airport confiscated 142 heroin pills wrapped in plastic, which the men had swallowed," the spokesman said. They brought the drugs at the request of the Arab woman. "She told them she would buy the entire amount once they arrived in the UAE. She planned to sell them in her own country," the spokesman said.
"The 37-year-old woman is married to a man who is in jail for his involvement in several drug cases," the spokesman said. She took over her husband's business after he was jailed. The woman allegedly told police investigators, "I was planning to finish the deal in less than 72 hours and go back home." – Albawaba.com
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