Dubai jails Indian expat for growing cannabis at home

Convict says mistook cannabis seeds for 'those of tomato'

Indian expat jailed for growing cannabis in Dubai home. PHOTO AFP

A Dubai court has jailed an Indian expat for storing and planting cannabis seeds at his Dubai home, Gulf News reported on Tuesday.

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The convict, 32, said he mistook the cannabis seeds for those of tomato. An informant had tipped-off police on the man planting the seeds and consuming marijuana.

A subsequent Anti-Narcotics Department raid at his residence in April yielded vast quantities of marijuana. The defendant tested positive for hashish, a by-product of cannabis, post arrest. Tests also showed traces of tetra-hydro cannabinol (THC), an active component of hashish, in his system.


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Pledging not guilty, the convict claimed he "did not know that [the] seeds were cannabis. I thought I had planted tomato seeds and when they grew enough to be harvested, I realised that it was not tomato."

The defendant confessed to consuming  and possessing hashish but not harvesting it. The man will be deported once he has served his two-year jail sentence.

He has challenged the verdict.

This article originally appeared in Gulf News.
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