A Spanish flight attendant based in Dubai has been held in custody since last June after being arrested on suspicion of facilitating drug consumption. A court is not expected to pass a verdict until next month at the earliest. Authorities did not reveal whether the male flight attendant works for Emirates or flydubai, which are both based in Dubai, or for another international airline.
The flight attendant was implicated after two men were stopped late at night by police officers in the Jumeirah Beach Residence area in June 2020 on suspicion of breaching COVID-19 safety regulations. At the time, a lockdown was in effect and the pair did not have a permit to be outside.
The police officers say they believed the two men were under the influence of drugs and after searching them they found a syringe and unspecified narcotics in their possession. The men were arrested and taken to the notorious Al Barsha detention centre where a urine sample revealed they had taken Crystal Meth.
During a preliminary hearing at the Dubai Court of First Instance, the arresting officer said that under interrogation the men claimed that a Spanish flight attendant had given them a phone number for a local drug dealer of Moroccan descent.
The next day, police obtained a search warrant and raided the apartment of the 33-year-old flight attendant. The flight attendant was found sleeping in his apartment located on the world-famous Sheikh Zayed Road but no drugs were found in his possession, in the apartment or in his car.
A urine sample didn’t reveal the presence of any drugs.
The flight attendant was, however, charged with facilitating drug consumption after the two men insisted that he had given them the phone number of the drug dealer who has also been arrested. The flight attendant denies the charges.
Last August, a 23-year-old Emirates flight attendant was also arrested on suspicion of possession with intent to supply two Cannabis joints. The case gained worldwide media coverage after the family of Derrin Crawford from Liverpool, England claimed she had simply been in the wrong place at the wrong time and had nothing to do with drugs.
Crawford, who landed her dream job as a flight attendant with Emirates Airline in 2018, was arrested in late June after going on a date with a fellow Brit who she had only met online around a week earlier. Crawford went back to his apartment and it was during this time that police carried out a surprise raid and found the Cannabis joints.
The young flight attendant was eventually released from prison but had to remain in Dubai indefinitely to act as a witness in the case.
