DUBAI // A man accused of consuming drugs told a Dubai court this morning that he did take a banned substance, but that it occurred outside the country.
AA, a 34-year-old from Palestine, confessed to consuming a banned substance before the Dubai Criminal Court of First Instance, but said he smoked hashish outside the UAE when he was on a visit to another country.
He told Judge Hamad Abdul Latif, “its true that I smoked hash, but I did it outside the country and got arrested two weeks after my return.”
Prosecutors said that on December 12, 2010, they received information that the suspect possessed and consumed drugs.
According to records, Al Qusais police anti-narcotics officers arrested AA at his workplace in Sharjah.
Upon searching him, officers did not find drugs in his possession, records said.
Anti-narcotics officers, however, said the suspect confessed willingly to smoking hash when he was in India two weeks before his arrest, records show. The officers referred him to the forensic lab, which tested him for drug consumption; the results were positive, prosecutors say.
AA, requested the court to examine his passport, which confirmed he was not in the country.
The next hearing was scheduled for February 21.
salamir@thenational.ae