Man cleared over hash used in Egypt

Man found with 10 pills of Tramadol who had hashish in his system is cleared of all charges.

ABU DHABI // A man found with hashish in his system and 10 pills of Tramadol has been cleared of all charges.

The Egyptian man said a doctor had issued him a repeat prescription for the Tramadol after he suffered a stroke in 2007.

However, the prescription he showed to the Criminal Court had been misspelt and words added which lead to allegations at his trial that it was a forgery.

He said that he ingested the hashish while in Egypt.

Following his acquittal, the farmworker complained to the judge that he was forced to spend Dh1,000 every time he was called to court.

"To come from the farm I take so many methods of transportation that I spend Dh 1,000 every time," he said.

"I swear by divorce if I knew I could have faced a death sentence for aspirin pills I wouldn't have brought them."

He asked the judge what he should do next, now that he had been found not guilty.

"Go get married," joked Chief Justice Sayed Abdul Baseer.

The man previously told the court he had consumed the hashish in Egypt before entering the UAE.

"I come from a big family in Menofeya. We are well known and I have five kids in college. Why would I ruin my and their reputation and take hashish here? If I want to fix my mood I'll do it in Egypt," he said.

Meanwhile, in a separate case, a man accused of consuming hashish told the Criminal Court a police officer switched his urine sample.

AA - a former prisoner ordered to undergo regular testing since his release from jail on drug-related offences - said agent S was the only officer present in the laboratory when the sample was taken.

"For a whole year my results were negative, I suspect he [the officer] exchanged the sample," he said.

But the officer denied doing so. "There is nothing between me and him, why would I do that?" he said.

The officer said that the former prisoner had told him he smoked the hashish by mistake after being given a bag containing what he thought were 10 pieces of medwakh. He added that the former prisoner had complained to him about his bad luck for this happening.

The defence lawyer asked the officer how the sample was taken.

The officer told her that the sample was sealed with wax in front of the defendant and that he then signed it and marked it with his fingerprints, so there was no way to tamper with it.

The defence lawyer then requested AS, the head of recruitment at Adoc, to be brought as a witness at the next hearing, though she did not make clear why.

"What is your connection to AS, the head of recruitment in Adoc?" the lawyer asked the police officer.

"What does this have to do with the case? He is my friend but this is not related," he answered.

The court granted the lawyer's request to call AS and adjourned the hearing until September 19.