Dubai: A lawyer told a court on Thursday that his client, a college student, was unaware that the cigarette he smoked with a friend on New Year’s Eve was stuffed with hashish.

Drug enforcement officers apprehended the 22-year-old Hungarian student, S.E., for consuming hashish in January.

Prosecutors accused S.E. of consuming hashish, a charge that he denied when he appeared before the Dubai Court of First Instance on Thursday.

The Hungarian suspect pleaded not guilty when he defended himself before presiding judge Urfan Omar.

“My client was attending a New Year’s party with friends when his female friend, identified as S., offered him a cigarette. He smoked it not knowing that it was stuffed with hashish … he did not have any criminal intention,” S.E.’s lawyer Saeed Al Gailani argued in court.

Law enforcement procedures were carried out improperly and unlawfully against the suspect, his lawyer contended in court.

“Drug enforcement officers obtained a prosecutor’s warrant to search my client’s house and car and arrest him. The warrant did not mention what drug he had consumed or possessed. How come the drug enforcement officers claim that they monitored S.E. and ensured that he had possessed and consumed drugs in his car and house! And when they searched, they didn’t find anything. My client does not even own a car. This proves that the law enforcement procedures were void and had been carried out illegally,” Al Gailani argued.

The lawyer contended that his client’s statement during police questioning should be voided due to the absence of a translator.

“My client was partying with friends in a desert area on New Year’s Eve and it was dark when his friend offered him a smoke. He did not know that he had smoked hashish … he thought it was a normal Marlboro cigarette. He regretted having smoked that cigarette. Had he been aware that it was stuffed with drugs, he would not have smoked it. Drug enforcement officers, who arrested S., pressured her to give them the names of those whom she had invited to smoke hashish during the party. That was how my client was arrested,” argued Al Gailani who asked the court to acquit his client.

A ruling will be heard on March 7.