UAE court drops charges against drugged-up plane passenger

ABU DHABI // A court has dropped charges against a drugged-up passenger who tried to open the emergency exit door of the plane he was travelling in - because he took the drugs in another country.

The Australian was travelling from his home country to Greece and landed in the UAE on transit.

He told the court that when the plane landed he was taken to a psychiatric hospital because he had tried to open the door while the plane was still in the air. Medics discovered he had hashish in his system.

He stayed in the hospital for 17 days and was seen by a couple of doctors before being moved to a prison on drug charges. He admitted consuming hashish and said that personal use of the drug was decriminalised in the part of Australia he came from.

The court dropped the charges against him, reasoning that UAE law was only concerned with drugs taken within the Emirates.

hdajani@thenational.ae