Dubai: A waiter claimed in court on Monday that he landed in trouble because of a pharmacist’s mistake who sold him tramadol although he asked for Panadol.
“I asked the pharmacist at the counter to sell me Panadol but I got tramadol,” the Egyptian waiter told the Dubai Court of First Instance when he denied the accusation of consuming Tramadol.
Drug enforcement officers were said to have apprehended the 28-year-old waiter, R.Y., in Deira at the restaurant where he worked in July following an informant’s tip off.
Having obtained prosecutors’ permission to search his house and him personally, drug officers discovered also a piece of hashish hidden inside a kettle at R.Y.’s residence.
Drugs prosecutors accused the suspect of possessing hashish and consuming tramadol.
When he appeared before the presiding judge, the defendant contended: “The piece of hashish was not mine. When I went to the pharmacy and asked for Panadol, they sold me tramadol.”
According to the charge sheet, the suspect possessed 0.49gm of hashish and consumed tramadol.
An anti-narcotics police corporal claimed to prosecutors that a police team headed to the suspect’s workplace and arrested him outside the restaurant.
“I called him outside and presented my police ID. Upon searching him personally, I did not find any drugs in his possession. Then he guided us to his residence that was nearby. We searched his bed space and did not find anything as well. Then we tried to search a drawer beside his bed but it was locked … he opened it using a key that was in his pocket. We found a kettle that contained a piece of hashish … he told us that it was not for him. However when we asked him why he had denied that the hashish was his though he opened the drawer with his key … he confessed that the hashish was for his personal use … he claimed that he consumed hashish occasionally,” the corporal testified to prosecutors.
A ruling will be heard on October 24.
