Mentioning you're a journalist often prompts people to suggest a topic they reckon you should write about. They will generally play a starring role in the tale which in most cases, will be a complete non-event. Occasionally though, you meet someone who really has a story to tell. This was the case with
Scottish Iain.

I met the 25-year-old not long after his arrival in Australia. The Dundee native flew from Scotland to Australia via Dubai where his flight was delayed. He missed his onward connection and his bags were searched by customs. Officers found 0.09 grams of cannabis resin inside the pocket of a pair of his jeans which he had no idea was in his possession.

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It was an amount roughly equivalent in size to about one-eight of a pea, smaller than the head of a match, and he expected to make his re-booked onward flight. The seriousness of the situation became apparent however, when he was detained over night and then moved to a prison close to the airport. The poor lad was then forced to undergo a full body search before being put through rounds of questioning. Many of the other inmates he came across were westerners detained on similar charges – casual cannabis smokers found in possession of tiny amounts they didn't know they had.

Iain was swept through Dubai's legal system and ended up spending over a month in prison on possession and smuggling charges. The guy had the presence of mind to keep a diary during his imprisonment and he gave me a copy. It was a cracking account of a genuinely grueling, terrifying experience. It detailed his bemusement as the legal process went on around him entirely in Arabic and his embassy's complete failure to assist him.

One passage in the diary read: “They haven't even given me a bed so I have to sleep in the corridor with a bunch of other guys. There is a room which has mostly western prisoners staying in it so I'm hoping to get in there soon.” Iain spent four days sleeping in the corridor before eventually being given a bed by the prison authorities. He continued, “The toilets are a hole in the ground and absolutely stink. There is no toilet paper and all the prisoners are expected to use their hand.”

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Inmates organised soccer matches when permitted to use the prison yard and Iain regularly joined in. On one occasion he found himself playing with a member of the Taliban caught attempting to smuggle 14 kilos of heroin through Dubai by strapping it to his body and concealing it under his clothes. Things went well for that particular smuggler until his contact failed to collect him at the airport and authorities became wary of his suspicious, aimless wanderings. Once he caught their attention the bulkiness of his clothing lead them to conclude that he was a suicide bomber of some sort and a massive security alert was sparked. He narrowly escaped being shot before the nature of his payload became apparent.

Although Iain was not physically harmed by the prison guards, other inmates did suffer abuse. He recalled, “They sent one Arab guy to solitary where they handcuffed him with his hands above his head for hours because he sat down during the counting in the yard.” He continued, “There were one or two nice guards but the rest looked on us as dirt and didn't want to be close to us.”

The diary also gave an account of Iain and his family's frantic attempts to secure help from the British authorities. He told me, “They couldn't do anything. The embassy came to visit me on the second day and told me I had to just sit and wait it out for whatever the Dubai authorities wanted to do. They told me I would probably either be deported or else given a four-year mandatory penalty.”

Iain was finally released after serving 36 days in prison. He somehow managed to avoid deportation back to the UK and was permitted to continue on his trip to Australia. This lad had a real story to tell but because he and his family were reluctant to have his full name or photo published in a newspaper it's one that won't be read about by anyone. With the exception of you lucky people of course.