Click on a label to read posts from that part of the world.
Dubai: Riskiest place in the world for the unaware traveler
We wrote here on Gadling about Dubai arresting people for having a spec of marijuana on their shoes while transiting through the airport, and then sentencing them to 4-years in Dubai Central Prison. I'm currently in Dubai and in the 3 days that I've been here I've heard of 4 stories of acquaintances in jail for having 0.02 grams of hash on them -- all that happened at the airport on "Bush Day".
I don't know how they manage to sniff out people with 0.02 grams of hash on them. They say that the customs have some high-tech sensors that pick up on it, but there is no security check of consequence on the way out; your hand bag does get screened, but that's after passport control and there isn't any walk-through detector.
There's a lead story in today's Guardian that talks about the same and how Dubai has the longest list of banned substances, possession of which leads to imprisonment. The list includes: codeine, poppy seeds and many well-known anti-depressants.
Actually, in theory, people traveling through Dubai who have consumed drugs in another city if stopped and questioned can be asked to give a urine sample for a drug test. If the test is positive, the person can still go to jail. This happened to a close friend of mine who went to Goa on holiday and got stoned every night. They picked him up on a random advertising agency drug raid a few years ago, and he was sentenced to 4 years.
I flew here on a resident visa and because of these nonsensical laws, I was paranoid that in the blood test I have to do to validate my resident visa, they might see traces of marijuana that I might've inhaled passively in some of Madrid's bars. However, looks like they don't test for drugs in this case.
I understand that Dubai wants to be 100% drug-free but some of the arrests they are making are just ridiculous. I could have been walking in Amsterdam before I got onto my flight to Dubai, and a spec of some illegal substance could have remained on my shoe -- that would give me 4 years of jail in Dubai. Come on! Besides, you can't do anything with a spec of any drug!
By implementing such strict laws, the Dubai authorities have definitely scared tourists and residents alike, but I think they need to be more realistic and reasonable about the arrests they make and the subsequent sentences.
Filed under: United Arab, Airports, News
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
james Jun 9th 2008 5:23PM
And don't even think about going there after the cocoa tea in peru. I don't do drugs, and still this is one more item to add to my list of reasons I find Dubai absolutely disgusting and would go there on a bet.
james Jun 9th 2008 5:24PM
Make that wouldn't...would not...no way
nzm Jun 10th 2008 3:05AM
Abha: like you, we've always wondered how on earth these miniscule particles are even found in the first place, let alone analysed so quickly as being banned substances. There's always a lot of debate on various UAE-based blogs whenever it happens too.
The lack of scrutiny at DXB has always had us bemused. In the 3 years in which we lived in the UAE, and with constant overseas travel which saw us coming into DXB at least once a month, we only once had our luggage hand-searched, That was after I had purchased some salt and pepper grinders in the US and transported them back. The salt came under close inspection!
Most times we've been waved through without being looked at by officers who were more enjoying their private conversations over checking incoming pax.
I don't know how they do it either.
zil Jul 10th 2008 7:58AM
Even if someone did not hang out in other countries in areas where such substances are present, they might have sat next to someone on the plane who had been and some speck from them could sind up on other person.
Perhaps in Dubai they realize that there is a history of
criminals being able to find ways to operate even under the strictest laws, so they have an absolute zero tolerance policy in an attempt to minimize any loopholes or "cracks" in their system which might allow such things.