Dubai: Briton Billy Hood has been sentenced to 25 years in prison for CBD e-liquids found in his car. The 24-year-old Kensington resident had moved to the Middle East to take a job as a soccer coach, which unfortunately did not materialize. Services detained him shortly after his arrival in the United Arab Emirates. Here is more information.
British man sentenced in Dubai to 25 years in prison for CBD e-liquids
Earlier this year, shortly after Hood arrived in the UAE to work as a soccer coach, he was detained by local police.
Billy Hood, 24, of Kensington, was charged and convicted of drug smuggling, trafficking and possession. The Briton claims he was forced to confess by police, who made him sign documents in Arabic, a language he does not speak.
After being found with a substance banned in the UAE, the man was imprisoned for 14 days in an isolation cell, where he was not even given hygiene supplies. While in solitary confinement, he was informed of further charges.
The oils found in the British man's car were four CBD e-liquids (e-cigarettes), containing trace amounts of THC.
Since Hood testified that the oils came from the UK, the Dubai court considered this as grounds for convicting him of smuggling.
The convict also testified that the oils were not his property and were left in the car by a friend of his who was visiting him recently.
He has always been a good boy, never causing trouble. He helps children, coaches, volunteers. He has never taken drugs. My son doesn't deserve to lose his whole life because of CBD oil that wasn't even his
- says Hood's 55-year-old mother, Breda.
The case is being handled by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO), which said it would "support the British man who was imprisoned in the United Arab Emirates."
Lawyers from the local organization Detained in Dubai are also handling the case. Its head, Radha Stirling, says there is zero tolerance in the UAE for all substances that may bear the hallmarks of narcotics.
Stirling also pointed out that coerced confessions are the norm in the Emirates.
The UAE is a place where it is better not to have anything to do with stimulants. In 2019, we wrote about a British woman sentenced to ten years in prison for CBD e-liquids, several grams of hash, and a gram of cocaine. In April of this year, we also reported on the arrest of an American who was found to have traces of marijuana in his urine!
