Home >
Back to National News listA dose of Dubai jail
The Canadian government has warned its tourists to be extra careful when travelling to the UAE after two men spent a month in a Dubai prison for possession of arthritis medicine.
The Canadian Foreign Affairs case worker for the Middle East, Nathalie Tenorio-Roy, described the case as an “ordeal” and said that her ministry had updated its UAE travel advice to warn tourists of the risk.
Rocky Sharma and Stephen Macleod said they went through a “nightmare” after the arthritis drug Celebrex was found in Macleod’s bag.
The drug is not banned in the UAE but it took a month to verify its status and whether it contained any illegal ingredients before the men were eventually released.
In an email to the duo, Tenorio-Roy said her government had now sent out a new warning to tourists because of the men’s “unfortunate ordeal”.
The ministry now warns tourists that they could face “long delays” before they will have the chance to talk to a member of embassy staff if they are arrested.
Macleod, a dialysis nurse, was taking the medicine for back pain and had a prescription from his doctor.
The pair spent a month in jail, during which Canadian officials rushed to get specialist medicine sent from Paris for Sharma, who suffers from a serious ongoing medical condition.
“I could have died without my medicine. I can’t thank the Canadian consulate enough for their help,” Sharma told 7DAYS.
The pair were returning from a holiday in Sharma’s native India and stopped off in the UAE on August 2 to see the “glittering lights of Dubai”.
However, airport police arrested both of them after finding Celebrex in Macleod’s bag.
“I was suddenly in a room with ten other men, I didn’t know what was going on,” Macleod said. He was taken to an isolation room before being moved to the medical wing of Dubai Central Jail because of his illness.
Executive director of Dubai Customs Cargo Operations, Mohammed Al Marri, told 7DAYS that Dubai Customs advertises very clearly in airports and in airline publications that certain medicines are not allowed in the country.
If a person shows their medicine to customs officials, it will be inspected along with a Ministry of Health official to determine if the substance is allowed into the country.
If the medicine is not declared and is found in luggage, the person will then be told if the substance is to be confiscated.
Al Marri said officials always try to act reasonably.
An official at the Canadian Department of Foreign Affairs confirmed that the men were held for the Celebrex drug and that the Dubai consulate had fought to have the men released.
sean.odriscoll@7days.ae
|
|
COMMENTS
Really? Is anyone surprised?
Posted by: veritas [25.Oct.09 4 : 26 PM]In Al Marri's statement, the procedure seemed efficient enough. If the medicine is shown to the customs officials, a person with the MOH inspects it. If undeclared and found in the luggage, it may be confiscated. Apparently, it took a whole month to sort everything out and endangered the life of a man. Is this then what he later said that their "officials try to act reasonably"?
Posted by: wyxz [25.Oct.09 2 : 35 PM]I feel so sorry for these "would be" tourists that the only "glittering lights of Dubai" they saw were the flickering lights inside their cells. One can just shake their heads at the people who took 1 month to verify the contents of a medicine which is not even banned in the UAE. Great work on boosting the tourism industry you guys! geezzz the incompetence starts at the doorstep!
Posted by: wyxz [25.Oct.09 12 : 20 PM]Why do the police have to detain the person knowing his/her medical state while checking if Celebrex is banned or not??? Any medical person knows what Celebrex is...it is a medicine taken to ease the pain suffered by arthritic patients especially when gout is in attack and the joints are swelling. It is not even a Narcotic. C'mon Dubai Police/Customs, you jailed a person for 1 month suffering without pain reliever..as what he/she said “I could have died without my medicine". It is ridiculous and pathetic, it's as if sending the message to the whole world and say, "if you want to come to Dubai, leave your medicines at home".
Posted by: jones69ers [25.Oct.09 11 : 59 AM]Wow, 1 Month to simply find out what a prescription over the counter drug is used for??? Ludicious. In western countries, people are questioned and if they are holding a doctor's prescription, then they are let go, but I really feel for these guys. I hope that they did manage to see the 'bright lights' of Dubai in the end, even if the lustre was lost.
Posted by: Aussiemaus [25.Oct.09 11 : 57 AM]This story again makes me think of the hypocrisy here, i wont mention why as i know it will not get printed. The day that A380 Toronto flights are empty for example would be a real blow to the UAE's dwindling tourism as this ordeal suffered by these two gentleman is sure to make major press in Canada and simply scare off potential tourists to these shores. Firstly, the Dubai customs director said something that again made me think…You are supposed to warn people before they travel and not only "advertises very clearly in airports and in airline publications that certain medicines are not allowed in the country." that is too late! The problem here is you never know if a drug is legal or not, there is no clear guideline or clear list of illegal prescription drugs and if there is, it surely does not mention every single one of them. I am sure Codein is on a list somewhere but is Celebrex for example? If it takes the UAE Health Dept one month to figure out what is illegal how are normal people supposed to know? Mr Al Marri, your customs are not acting reasonably …acting reasonable is not arresting tourists, jailing them and then after a month realising your mistake and releasing them without any compensation for their ordeal. Do you not realise how much damage stories like this do to your tourism? These stories are great fodder for International press and simply scares possible tourists away.
Posted by: BoogieMonsta [25.Oct.09 10 : 53 AM]Frightening; Particularly the bit about the medicine not being banned, and the people jailed, while this fact was being verified
Posted by: United84 [25.Oct.09 9 : 12 AM]i dont get it, to check a medicine, which is NOT banned in the UAE, why should the passenger be in jail till is verified? I can understand it if he has something explicitly not allowed, but when it comes to medicine which is not banned, putting the person in jail is pathetic.
Posted by: United84 [25.Oct.09 8 : 54 AM]KEEP YOURSELF UPDATED
Get updates as they happen or daily, in your email inbox or your mobile phone, or both.
Register