If I were a tourist, I would boycott that place

[Skybird]

This is simply crazy:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7234786.stm

British tourist Keith Brown was sentenced to four years in prison after Dubai customs officers found a 0.003g trace of cannabis stuck to his shoe.
(...)
Possession of painkillers like codeine and some cold and flu medication could result in a mandatory four-year prison sentence, Fair Trials International said.
(...)
British resident Cat Le-Huy was arrested in Dubai for carrying Melatonin jet-lag tablets, which are sold over the counter in the US and Dubai.
Mr Le-Huy told BBC News he was forced to sign a document in Arabic and was refused a translator. He said once the tablets were proved to be Melatonin, police took what he described as dirt from his bag and said they were now testing it to see if it was cannabis.
(...)
Aside from illegal substances, travellers have also been held for possession of prescription drugs. Tracy Wilkinson was held in custody for eight weeks before customs officers accepted the codeine she was carrying had been prescribed by her doctor for back pains.
(...)
a Swiss national is serving a four-year jail term after three poppy seeds from a bread roll he ate at Heathrow airport were found on his clothes

What the...?

It'S a long way to a modern society. Having money en masse and throwing it around as if there were no future - simply is no short-cut.

This legal madness should be made known all around. If then still people travel there and get into trouble over such criminalistic fakes - it serves them well, I would say. Think of it as a four years holiday that you have earned yourself by not rejecting to travel there.

[swifty]

Drastic behavior for a country looking at tourism being the major economy for the future. Just think the average us dollar has between one nanogram to one miligram of cocane on it.

[SUBMAN1]

The only one that sounds weird is the poppy seed one. Smuggling that cig of cannibis into an Arab country (if you read the article, he did smuggle it) in ones shoe is just plain stupidity however, and he deserves to spend 4 years in the slammer for being an idiot.

-S

[kiwi_2005]

British tourist Keith Brown was sentenced to four years in prison after Dubai customs officers found a 0.003g trace of cannabis stuck to his shoe.

The poor fella probably stepped on it when entering planted there by poorly paid custom officers who were told the more busts they make the more pay they'll get!

[Skybird]

"three poppy seeds from a bread roll he ate at Heathrow airport"

That's what killed Dubai for me as a tourist ressort. Spending your holiday there could see you ending up with a pathologic obession to wash yourself.

[mrbeast]

Originally Posted by SUBMAN1

The only one that sounds weird is the poppy seed one. Smuggling that cig of cannibis into an Arab country (if you read the article, he did smuggle it) in ones shoe is just plain stupidity however, and he deserves to spend 4 years in the slammer for being an idiot.

-S

I don't think the article suggests he tried to smuggle it at all.......


'At first customs officers found nothing, but then a roll-up cigarette was spotted caught in the tread of his shoe.
The 43-year-old, from Middlesex, was charged with possession of 0.003g of cannabis and was sentenced to four years in prison'.

Strange way to smuggle what amounts to a very small spliff; stuck to the bottom of your shoe. Sounds more like he trod on a butt an accidentally carried it.

As to Dubai, I have no desire ever to set foot in the wretched country. All the skyscrapers and modern buildings are just a facade on what is essentially a medieval society.

[SUBMAN1]

Originally Posted by mrbeast

I don't think the article suggests he tried to smuggle it at all.......


'At first customs officers found nothing, but then a roll-up cigarette was spotted caught in the tread of his shoe.
The 43-year-old, from Middlesex, was charged with possession of 0.003g of cannabis and was sentenced to four years in prison'.

Strange way to smuggle what amounts to a very small spliff; stuck to the bottom of your shoe. Sounds more like he trod on a butt an accidentally carried it.

You know - I read that wrong. I thought it said thread at first glance. Teaches me for doing multiple things at once.

THen again, he was probably smoking it and then stamped it out....

-S

[mrbeast]

Originally Posted by SUBMAN1

THen again, he was probably smoking it and then stamped it out....

-S

That sounds quite plausible too :hmm:

Either way I think after learning of this story I'll wake up tommorow morning and be very thankful that I don't live in a place like Dubai.

[Blacklight]

I have a funny story. My wife's step brother (Who happens to be a cop), went down to Jamaca for vacation. In one of the markets there, he encountered a guy selling weed. So he decided to get a little bit for smoking back in the hotel. He handed the guy $20 and expected a small little bag. The guy goes around the corner, shoves a WHOLE SHOEBOX PACKED WITH WEED into his hands and runs off.

Now at the time, my wife's step brother was on a tour on a bus. So he spent the entire tour sitting on the bus with this huge shoebox full of weed wondering what the hell he was going to do with the damn thing ! :rotfl:

I think he flushed all but a dime bag ammount down the can or something eventually.

So now we know that weed is much cheaper in Jamaca than it is in the US.:rotfl:

[mrbeast]

Originally Posted by Blacklight

I have a funny story. My wife's step brother (Who happens to be a cop), went down to Jamaca for vacation. In one of the markets there, he encountered a guy selling weed. So he decided to get a little bit for smoking back in the hotel. He handed the guy $20 and expected a small little bag. The guy goes around the corner, shoves a WHOLE SHOEBOX PACKED WITH WEED into his hands and runs off.

Now at the time, my wife's step brother was on a tour on a bus. So he spent the entire tour sitting on the bus with this huge shoebox full of weed wondering what the hell he was going to do with the damn thing ! :rotfl:

I think he flushed all but a dime bag ammount down the can or something eventually.

So now we know that weed is much cheaper in Jamaca than it is in the US.:rotfl:

Just don't get a return flight via Dubai!

[kiwi_2005]

Originally Posted by Blacklight

Now at the time, my wife's step brother was on a tour on a bus. So he spent the entire tour sitting on the bus with this huge shoebox full of weed wondering what the hell he was going to do with the damn thing ! :rotfl:

:rotfl:Yea Jah-maca - Home of the Rastafarians they even put it in tourists food, thats why they keep coming back - So how was your holiday in Jah maca. Oh man it was the best thing ever, I felt so happy its hard to explain! And the food, i just couldn't get enough

Their laws are a bit hipocritical, they're against cannibis but the whole damn population practically walk around with herb in their pockets. :rotfl:

[STEED]

So smoking pot is out, along with pain killers.

[Etienne]

Originally Posted by Blacklight

I have a funny story. My wife's step brother (Who happens to be a cop), went down to Jamaca for vacation. In one of the markets there, he encountered a guy selling weed. So he decided to get a little bit for smoking back in the hotel. He handed the guy $20 and expected a small little bag. The guy goes around the corner, shoves a WHOLE SHOEBOX PACKED WITH WEED into his hands and runs off.

He got lucky. When I worked on a cruise ship, the scam in Jamaica (Ocho Rios, to be precise) was for the souvenir shop salesperson to sell weed to the pax, then sell them out to the cop five minutes later for a reward.

You'd have to be pretty dumb to try to take drugs back on a cruise ship, anyway... Although I guess they never search the pax as much as they search the crewmembers.

[bookworm_020]

Makes Australian Custom officals look all warm and fuzzy....