Published
Mon, Feb 4, 2008, 09:00
- Drum n bass DJ Grooverider has admitted to possessing marijuana in his first appearance in court in Dubai.
Drum n bass DJ Grooverider admitted to possessing marijuana in his first appearance in Dubai court last week.
Dressed in white prison overalls, the 40-year-old DJ told the judge, “The drugs were in my possession and I forgot I had them in my trousers," according to UAE newspaper 7Days.
“When I searched his bag I found marijuana in a plastic bag inside a pocket of his jeans,” a customs officer told the court.
Grooverider has been detained in a holding cell at Dubai International Airport since his arrest on November 23rd last year. The DJ was found to be in possession of 2.16 grams of marijuana and pornographic DVDs after being searched at customs.
The possession of pornography charge was not mentioned on the first day of the hearing, leading to speculation that the charge has been dropped.
If found guilty of cannabis possession, Grooverider could face four years in jail, the minimum sentence under strict UAE laws.
Grooverider has retained as legal counsel Mohammad Al-Reda, who successfully defended RnB singer Dallas Austin on charges of possessing cocaine and ecstasy in Dubai in 2006. Austin was pardoned and managed to avoid prison after intense lobbying from US senators with business ties to the region as well as pop stars such as Lionel Richie.
“We are offering consular assistance to Grooverider,” Simon Goldsmith from the British Embassy in Dubai told Khaleej Times earlier this month.
"The British Consulate officials are a joke. They just threw me leaflets and that was that,” Grooverider told the Sunday Mirror.
"It's ridiculous. I must have forgotten the spliff. It was a small amount. Back home I would not even get prosecuted."
He added: "I just want this to end, I want to leave and never come back.”
The trial continues. Grooverider makes his second appearance in the dock tomorrow.