Grooverider gets four years for cannabis Dubai bust

Grooverider gets four years for cannabis Dubai bust

19 February, 2008 | 3.58PM

• Section: Music News Topics: Beatport Blog
• Written by: Terry Church

A Dubai court today sentenced drum & bass king Grooverider to four years in jail, three months after he was caught with cannabis.

The 40 year old BBC Radio 1 DJ was arrested at Dubai airport on 23rd November 2007 after customs cops found a bag containing 2.16 grams of marijuana in his luggage.

He was on his way to play a gig at a club.

Grooverider - real name Raymond Bingham - was not in court for sentencing and has two weeks to appeal.

The United Arab Emirates has a zero tolerance drug policy, and under UAE law drug trafficking carries a sentence ranging from four years jail to death.

The British DJ had previously said that he was unaware that it was in his luggage and had no intention of bringing it into Dubai.

“This is the minimum that you get by law but we will do our best, especially since he confessed and has cooperated with the authorities,” defence lawyer Mohammed Suweidi told Reuters.

It is believed that his drum & bass radio show, which has broadcast without him since his arrest, will continue with the new title Radio 1’s Drum ‘n’ Bass Show With Fabio.

There is slim glimmer of hope for Grooverider: US singer Dallas Austin managed to secure a pardon with the help of one of Bingham’s lawyers Mohammad al-Reda, after being convicted of possession of cocaine in 2006.

“I must have forgotten the spliff,” Grooverider said in an interview last month. “It was a small amount. Back home I would not even get prosecuted.”

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