Suspect's house can be searched without written warrant

A law-enforcing officer can arrest and search the premises of a drug suspect if caught red-handed, with a verbal search and arrest warrant.

This was stated recently by the Dubai Supreme Court under certain articles of the Legal Procedures Act.

According to the provisions the Act, if a law-enforcing officer suspects that the suspect was in the possession of evidence, was hiding drugs or any clue related to a crime, then he has the right to arrest and search the house without a written search warrant.

The officer's decision to arrest the suspect and raid his premises must be reported to the investigating authority of the specialised court. This was effected after the Dubai Supreme Court rejected an appeal ruling submitted by a drug suspect and ordered that the lawsuit be referred to the Appeal Court to issue a new sentence by a panel of judges.

According to court reports, the Court of Appeal had upheld the ruling issued by the lower Court that had sentenced I.M.S., an expatriate, to life sentence and fined him Dh100,000 to be followed by deportation for dealing in drugs.

The General Prosecution charged I.M.S. with possessing drugs for trading purposes. The drugs were obtained from a Dubai hospital upon a medical prescription that did not meet the legal requirements.

The suspect appealed the lower court's sentence on December 9, 2001, claiming that the officer who arrested him did not carry any search and arrest warrant issued by the prosecution. He added that the main eyewitness gave a false testimony while the rest kept on changing their statements.

The suspect was arrested in a sting operation after the law-enforcing officer waited for the informer, who acted as the buyer. After the transaction was completed, the informer notified the officer that the suspect had sold him the drugs and taken the money.

So the officer then raided the place and caught I.M.S. and found sufficient evidence to charge him with the crime.

The lower court considered that under the provisions of articles number 51 and 53 of Legal Procedure Act the law-enforcing officer had the right to arrest and search the suspect without a written warrant but under the supervision of his superiors and the specialised court.