Radio 1 DJ Grooverider given four-year jail term for cannabis smuggling

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Posted by Swamper on Feb-19-2008 23:22:

Radio 1 DJ Grooverider given four-year jail term for cannabis smuggling

Harsh sentence. meh, what a waste of resources.

Link: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/ne...icle3395661.ece

The Radio 1 DJ Grooverider has been sentenced to a four-year prison term in Dubai after admitting to carrying cannabis into the country.

Grooverider � whose real name is Raymond Bingham � told judges at previous court appearance: �The drugs were in my possession and I forgot I had them in my trousers.�

He was convicted yesterday and given the minimum sentence for drug possession in the United Arab Emirates, where deeply conservative laws sometimes collide with the liberal values of the millions of tourists who visit each year.

Grooverider�s lawyers had tried to argue in his defence that he was unaware of the laws.

The 40-year-old DJ, who co-hosts the weekly BBC Radio 1 drum-and bass programme Fabio and Grooverider, was arrested at Dubai airport on November 23, with 2.16 grams of cannabis in his pockets just hours before he was due to play a sold-out show at a popular nightclub.

�I just want this to end and to never come back. It was a small amount. Back home I would not even get prosecuted,� he previously stated, in a published interview from jail.

A BBC spokesman said: �He made a serious mistake and is paying a very high price.� Grooverider has been off the air since his arrest last November.

Although not officially suspended by Radio 1 it is understood that the BBC is not paying him a salary, as the DJ is paid for each show he presents. Bingham has provided his own legal representation.

Drugs are strictly banned in the United Arab Emirates, however there have been several high-profile cases of foreigners being jailed for smuggling small amounts into the country.

A British tourist, Keith Brown, spent four years in jail for the possession of 0.002 grams of cannabis. Bert Tatham, a Canadian UN official who advised the Afghan government was also jailed for carrying 0.5 grams of hashish and two poppy seeds into the country.

The rulers of Dubai later issued Mr Tatham a rare pardon, deporting him to Canada. Highlighting a new crackdown on drug smuggling, the UAE recently installed new drug-sensitive detecting equipment in its airports.

Grooverider, who made his name DJing at illegal warehouse parties, is recognised as a pioneer of the abrasive style of dance music known as drum and bass.

He is a recording artist and record label owner in his own right and an in-demand DJ on the international club circuit. His colleague Fabio will continue to present the Radio 1 show in his absence.

The former Radio 1 DJ Kevin Greening died of a heart attack last year, aged 44, after taking large quantities of cocaine, ecstasy and the drug GHB.

Posted by Cosmic Fur on Feb-19-2008 23:26:

The last paragraph is teh awesomeness. quality reporting right here, folks.

Posted by Orko on Feb-19-2008 23:32:

Talk about getting your priorities wrong.

Posted by me@t k@tie on Feb-19-2008 23:37:

It sucks that this happened to him, but in all honesty, he KNEW that there would be a huge consequence if he got caught with weed there. I hate when people visiting another country act like the tolerance level for certain things (such as weed) is exactly the same as it is in their country. Do your damn research before traveling.

That being said, I think that the sentence was wayyyyy too harsh.

Posted by Orko on Feb-19-2008 23:40:

quote:
Originally posted by me@t k@tie
It sucks that this happened to him, but in all honesty, he KNEW that there would be a huge consequence if he got caught with weed there. I hate when people visiting another country act like the tolerance level for certain things (such as weed) is exactly the same as it is in their country. Do your damn research before traveling.

Very true. You would have to be an idiot to think than countries allow you to bring in illegal drugs.

At least his manager should have warned him, or found a hook up in the country. What else are managers for?

Posted by devnull on Feb-20-2008 00:05:

they dont fuck around over there!

Posted by chinamon on Feb-20-2008 00:07:

swamper, this is relatively old news.

Posted by me@t k@tie on Feb-20-2008 00:09:

quote:
Originally posted by chinamon
swamper, this is relatively old news.

No it's not. They just sentenced him today I think.

Posted by Ub3rBreaker on Feb-20-2008 00:49:

quote:
Originally posted by chinamon
swamper, this is relatively old news.

wtf...

Posted by activate on Feb-20-2008 01:10:

quote:
Originally posted by chinamon
swamper, this is relatively old news.

no it isn't. the article is about his sentencing.. not arrest. that happened back in November.

Posted by jon jon on Feb-20-2008 01:13:

Re: Radio 1 DJ Grooverider given four-year jail term for cannabis smuggling

quote:
Originally posted by Swamper
�The drugs were in my possession and I forgot I had them in my trousers.�

lol stoner...

I wonder if this will have any impact on DJ's touring through Dubai. I mean fuck, 4 years! Fuck that. I'd be afraid to look the wrong way or something.

Posted by Elendil on Feb-20-2008 02:13:

Bloody fascist tyrants... makes my ill to think about what he's enduring for something so trivial. /sigh

Posted by English Rachel on Feb-20-2008 02:31:

Adam had a bud in a pair of his jeans that was packed in our suitacase when we went to England in the summer.

He hadn't worn them for at least a month, perhaps 2 and neither of us had any idea. There was probably half a gram in there.

I went mad and he was mortified but what can you do? It was a complete accident. I even think the bag had gone through the washer and dryer!!

Poor Grooverider. Sentences like that will keep Dubai from being as western as it would like. Not that I condone 'smuggling'...

Posted by Orko on Feb-20-2008 03:01:

quote:
Originally posted by English Rachel
Adam had a bud in a pair of his jeans that was packed in our suitacase when we went to England in the summer.

He hadn't worn them for at least a month, perhaps 2 and neither of us had any idea. There was probably half a gram in there.

I went mad and he was mortified but what can you do? It was a complete accident. I even think the bag had gone through the washer and dryer!!

Poor Grooverider. Sentences like that will keep Dubai from being as western as it would like. Not that I condone 'smuggling'...

Seriously its so easy to do!

I usually put on my winter coat for the first time in fall, and find a bud in there. Shit happens! Thank god I love in Canada.

Posted by The Highroller on Feb-20-2008 12:53:

Re: Radio 1 DJ Grooverider given four-year jail term for cannabis smuggling

quote:
Originally posted by Swamper
A British tourist, Keith Brown, spent four years in jail for the possession of 0.002 grams of cannabis.

Jesus! That is horrible!

Posted by zoogla on Feb-20-2008 13:42:

quote:
Originally posted by Elendil
makes my ill to think about what he's enduring for something so trivial. /sigh

They have jails there for expatriates that are separate from those for locals. Apparently, for the expats it's not that bad, with TV and stuff.

Posted by Search&Rescue on Feb-20-2008 16:00:

Being lived most of my life over there, I can say that the city has always been infamous for double standards - there's a lot more to it than the impressions they are trying to give to the world.

This is why I cleaned my laptop keyboard with compressed air the last time I travelled back.

Posted by DigDeep on Feb-20-2008 16:15:

Re: Re: Radio 1 DJ Grooverider given four-year jail term for cannabis smuggling

quote:
Originally posted by jon jon

I wonder if this will have any impact on DJ's touring through Dubai.

If anything, it will just act as a wake up call.... I doubt any DJ would say 'Fuck that, I'm not going to a country where I can't smoke my ganja'. lol

Posted by linear_algebra on Feb-20-2008 16:15:

Sigh....marijuana should be legalized...
I don't understand.....other soft drugs like alcohol,caffeine and nicotine are perfectly legal.....marijuanna doesn't seem to be more dangerous than those.......Do we really hv to put people in prison and destroy their lives?

Posted by English Rachel on Feb-20-2008 16:23:

Re: Re: Re: Radio 1 DJ Grooverider given four-year jail term for cannabis smuggling

Posted by Cosmic Fur on Feb-20-2008 17:29:

Re: Re: Re: Radio 1 DJ Grooverider given four-year jail term for cannabis smuggling

quote:
Originally posted by Jeff Button
If anything, it will just act as a wake up call.... I doubt any DJ would say 'Fuck that, I'm not going to a country where I can't smoke my ganja'. lol

I wouldn't do it out of protest of their retarded laws. Then again, I'm not a DJ. Then again, Grooverider is not the kind of DJ who had problems getting gigs. I bet now he really regrets choosing to go to Dubai over a place in Europe.

Posted by jsibilin on Feb-20-2008 18:48:

quote:
Originally posted by linear_algebra
Sigh....marijuana should be legalized...
I don't understand.....other soft drugs like alcohol,caffeine and nicotine are perfectly legal.....marijuanna doesn't seem to be more dangerous than those.......Do we really hv to put people in prison and destroy their lives?

+a quadrillion,,, one thing about dubai is,, theres noo drugs,, but most of the drug route goes threw there, thats why they take harsher penalties...

dubai has one of the biggest prostitution problems in the world.. yet they don't like weed.. i will never go there ..unless the states takes over.. which might happen!

Posted by E2EK1EL on Feb-20-2008 19:06:

Totally shitty

Posted by The Highroller on Feb-20-2008 19:06:

quote:
Originally posted by jsibilin
unless the states takes over.. which might happen!

Uhhh, what? lol

Posted by jsibilin on Feb-20-2008 19:10:

quote:
Originally posted by The Highroller
Uhhh, what? lol

the only reason the states are in the middle east is to take it over!!!

well thats just my two cents..

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