Dubai: A lawyer has been cleared of possessing and taking a drug known as spice, after a court decided that procedures were carried out against him unlawfully.
Ali Abdullah Al Shamsi, who defended the Canadian-Arab lawyer, asked the Dubai Court of First Instance to dismiss the charges against his 25-year-old client because drug enforcement officers carried out improper and unlawful procedures against him.
The suspect denied possessing 20 grams of spice (synthetic cannabis) for personal use and taking drugs.
“It is true that he hails from an Arab country but he doesn’t have a good command of the Arabic language, in which he was questioned. Besides, the search and arrest warrant was issued based on improper legal procedures, whereby the drug enforcement officers did not carry out a serious investigation concerning the tip-off,” Al Shamsi said.
According to Tuesday’s ruling, the court decided to acquit the lawyer because he was questioned in the absence of an English language translator.
The verdict sheet added: “According to the Criminal Procedure Law the suspect should have been questioned in the presence of a translator because he does not have a good command of Arabic. Drug enforcement officers did not carry out proper investigations pertaining to the informant’s tip-off prior to the issuance of the prosecutors’ search and arrest warrant. Henceforth, the court regarded the warrant as void and law enforcement procedures related to it [the warrant] as void as well.”
Records said drug enforcement officers arrested the 25-year-old when he was getting out of his car at Business Bay on July 16.
Unfounded
Prosecutors charged the defendant with taking spice and possessing three grass-like pieces [spice] which he intended to consume.
The evidence brought against the defendant was unfounded and unsubstantiated to issue an arrest warrant, said Al Shamsi.
“The case should be dismissed because it was based on legal procedures that were enforced in a wrongful manner,” he said.
An Emirati anti-narcotics police lieutenant testified the defendant was detained following a tip-off.
“The informant warned the police the defendant possessed drugs and a mind-altering substance. We obtained a prosecutors’ warrant to arrest him and have his car and residence searched. We busted the suspect when he got out of his vehicle. No drugs were found in his possession or inside his car. We raided his house. The plastic pot was found on a table beside his bed. Then he guided us to the place where he hid the other drugs inside his closet. When asked about the suspected substance that was seized in his possession he immediately confessed that it was spice. He claimed that he bought it from an Arab,” the lieutenant told prosecutors.
The lawyer is expected to be released from Dubai Central Jail soon.
Tuesday’s ruling remains subject to appeal within 15 days.
