I'm not joking.
A father-of-three who was found with a microscopic speck of cannabis stuck to the bottom of one of his shoes has been sentenced to four years in a Dubai prison.
Keith Brown, a council youth development officer, was travelling through the United Arab Emirates on his way back to England when he was stopped as he walked through Dubai's main airport.
A search by customs officials uncovered a speck of cannabis weighing just 0.003g - so small it would be invisible to the naked eye and weighing less than a grain of sugar - on the tread of one of his shoes. ...
A 25-year-old Briton who was found with a similar speck in one pocket as he arrived on holiday has been awaiting sentence since November.
Meanwhile a Big Brother TV executive has so far been held without charge for five days after being arrested for possessing the health supplement melatonin. ...
One man has even been jailed for possession of three poppy seeds left over from a bread roll he ate at Heathrow Airport. Painkiller codeine is also banned. ...
Last night campaign group Fair Trials International advised visitors to Dubai and Abu Dhabi to "take extreme caution".
Chief Executive Catherine Wolthuizen said: "We have seen a steep increase in such cases over the last 18 months.
"Customs authorities are using highly sensitive new equipment to conduct extremely thorough searches on travellers and if they find any amount — no matter how minute — it will be enough to attract a mandatory four-year prison sentence."
I don't care how straight-laced and upstanding you are. Based on this article, if you go to Dubai — or through Dubai, as many people traveling between Europe and Thailand do — by dint of just by stepping foot in that country, you are risking your freedom.
I'm not joking. 
11 comments:
WOW! thats crazy. I wonder what is legal thier? Sounds like aspirin would get you a life sentence.
from Jakal
Nice try Jil but thats old news. Read it in the daily mail three days ago
so you smoke then do you
That may be Chairman, but for many people, J.I.P. is their only source of news, and even more people don't consider something to be news until it is printed here. :-P
Hmmm... I haven't smoked a joint since college, but I have a feeling that with the way Dubai is picking up microscopic traces of the stuff, I wouldn't be surprised if that last joint 20 years ago could still get me popped there.
I have to go through there all the time. They have almost as many prostitutes there as Thailand. Anyway, yea they check you all the time, for me, Im all tattooed so they ALWAYS check me. A coworker of mine got busted with a few joints and got sentenced to 4 years. he got pardoned after around 10 months but cant go there ever again, no problem to him.They are getting alot of terrorist threats now also.
Just want i want to hear. Booked a trip and having a stoover one the to and from europe in August, as i wantedto try and break up the long trip from Australia.
Just want i want to hear. Booked a trip and having a stoover one the to and from europe in August, as i wantedto try and break up the long trip from Australia.
Maybe they are just trying to weed out some of the 'euro-trash' that passes thru their ports of entry?
Anon, if they are trying to weed out (heh... pun intended there?) the Eurotrash, they would have to be applying the law selectively: Anybody can step on a tiny piece of marijuana and get it stuck to the bottom of their shoe.
But it is most unlikely to climb into his pocket. Beats me why people think any drugs should be legal anywhere.
thanks for warning - anyway : do they smoke hashish in their cellars?
About half my passport and the extention pages are filled with Dubai visa stamps from the past 3 years...and jeeze, am I EVER glad I dont have to go back there any more. But I have to say, I dont know how they were inspection people. I never once had anything even close to being checked like that. It's only been a few months since my last trip and I never got checked like that.
But yea, we had a number of co-workers getting busted for stuff. like coke...and we were like, how the hell did you find coke in Dubai?! And why would you want to take it out of the country?
There was a guy that was held for 2 weeks for having company-issued motrin pills in a plastic pill-bag. All because it wasnt an 'original container'
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