20/02/2008 00:00:00
Dubai: Radio DJ jailed in Dubai over drugs
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Radio 1 DJ Grooverider has been jailed for four years in Dubai for
possession of cannabis.
The 40-year-old - real name Raymond Bingham - was arrested at the city's
airport on November 23 after flying in for a nightclub gig.
Customs officials found 2.16 grams of cannabis in his luggage.
The DJ has denied deliberately smuggling drugs into the country and
claimed to have accidentally left them in a trouser pocket.
"It's ridiculous. I must have forgotten the spliff. It was a small
amount. Back home I would not even get prosecuted," he said last month
in an interview from his prison cell.
Grooverider has been with Radio 1 since 1998 and co-hosts the weekly
Fabio and Grooverider show at 2am each Sunday.
Since his arrest, the programme has continued without him. He was
employed on a freelance basis and has not been paid by the station since
November.
A Radio 1 spokesman said: "He has made a serious mistake and he is
paying a very high price."
Four years is the minimum sentence for drug trafficking in the United
Arab Emirates and the most serious offences are punishable by the death
penalty.
As Dubai becomes an increasingly popular tourist destination, officials
are taking a hardline approach to drugs possession. In the last 12
months, 64 British nationals have been arrested in the UAE for drugs
offences, according to the Foreign Office. Grooverider has two weeks to
appeal.
http://ukpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5gCUrb9Zrs-WEv0avH5bDsRcdsSBA
Source:
http://www.ukcia.org/news/shownewsarticle.php?articleid=13297
Author:
Press Association via UKCIA
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