A
London-based television executive is facing four
years in jail after an amount of cannabis weighing
less than a grain of sugar was found in his bag
at Dubai airport. Cat Le-Huy, 31, a German national
and head of technology at the television production
company Endemol, has been held for three weeks
without charge after flying to the United Arab
Emirates on 26 January.
Friends and family have been told he can expect
to face the minimum jail sentence for drug possession
in the tiny Arab emirate. Mr Le-Huy had been on
a two-day visit to look into investing in the
region. On Tuesday, the Radio 1 DJ Grooverider,
whose real name is Raymond Bingham, was jailed
in Dubai for four years for possession of 2.16g
of cannabis with a street value of about UKP10.
The Foreign Office says nine British nationals
have been detained in Dubai over drugs offences
this year, including Keith Brown, from the West
Midlands, who was also jailed this month for four
years after a speck of cannabis was found stuck
to the bottom of a shoe. Mr Le-Huy, of Belsize
Park, north London, said he was first reprimanded
for possession of jet-lag pills. When these were
shown to be melatonin, which can be bought over
the counter in Dubai and in the US, and in herbal
stores in Britain, he was asked to provide a urine
sample. He said when this also proved negative,
his bag was searched. Airport officials found
0.03 grams of hashish, an amount not visible to
the naked eye. Mr Le-Huy is being held in Al-Wathba
prison, 40 miles north of Dubai, in a desert.
Friends say he has befriended DJ Grooverider,
with whom he shares Australian friends, and is
also close to several other English-speaking inmates.
A fighting fund has been set up to pay Mr Le-Huy's
mounting legal fees, and has already raised UKP25,000.
Mr Le-Huy, who came to Britain 10 years ago, worked
at Endemol for two years, including on the reality
TV show Big Brother. Radha Sterling, a close friend
of Mr Le-Huy who is co-ordinating the fund, said:
"Cat absolutely hates marijuana. He never
goes anywhere near it, partly because he's asthmatic
and partly because he's very conscious about his
health. "He's a man of integrity, intelligent,
respected, and law-abiding. We have asked for
independent testing of the dirt in his bag and
to know what equipment they are using but they
have refused to help us." Customs authorities
have successfully applied to hold Mr Le-Huy in
Dubai until at least the end of March. A 5,000-signature
appeal has been sent to Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid
al-Maktoum, ruler of Dubai and the Prime Minister
of the United Arab Emirates.
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