A British man faces 25 years in prison in Dubai after accepting money “for shopping” from an alleged drug dealer.
Self-proclaimed millionaire Waseem Khan, 22, spent more than two months locked in a “hell” cell with 200 inmates at the notorious Al Barsha prison before being released on bail following his arrest.
The crypto investor, who was forced to shell out £30,000 in legal fees, was arrested on September 4 when police raided his luxury apartment.
Waseem said this occurred after he transferred £4,500 to a friend in Britain, who then arranged for a man to give him around Dh15,000 in return in Dubai.
But hours after the person, whom he did not know, brought the cash to his property, police burst into his door and handcuffed him.
He was subsequently charged with possession and supply of drugs and using the proceeds of crime, which he vehemently denies.
Waseem could now spend up to 25 years behind bars (the maximum sentence for drug trafficking in Dubai) and is banned from leaving the state while he awaits his next court appearance.
Speaking of his time in prison before being released on bail, he said: “It was like a hellish prison.” It was the kind of thing you see in movies.
Waseem Khan, 22, faces possible 25 years in jail in Dubai after allegedly accepting money from a drug dealer.
He has been charged with possession and supply of drugs and using the proceeds of crime, which he vehemently denies.
Waseem, originally from Leeds, moved to Dubai a few years ago.
‘There were murderers, rapists and drug dealers, people who had committed very, very unpleasant crimes. There were some of the worst people in the world.
‘Every day there were people who picked on you. The living conditions were horrible.
‘If there were small problems, we would have to fight for it. There were several occasions where I came close to physically fighting with people.
“There was horrible food, cold showers, the bathrooms were moldy, it stank… The phones were horrible and the prison guards were horrible too.
“I didn’t even think I would get out, just because of the bad luck I had there.”
Waseem, originally from Leeds, moved to Dubai a few years ago, where he bought an apartment on the fourth floor of the exclusive Jumeirah Village Circle.
And like many expats, he enjoyed the benefits of the thriving, low-tax economy, to which thousands of Britons have flocked in recent years.
But after she got, through a friend, the man to bring her Dh15,000 so she could “go shopping,” she said the police had come through her door.
The crypto investor was arrested on September 4 when police raided his luxurious apartment
Waseem has had to fork out £30,000 in legal fees
Waseem said he had been forced to sell assets, including his expensive cars, to quickly raise the money he needed for his legal representation.
Waseem said, “I went to the gym around 7 pm and did a two-hour session, then I came home and prepared some food.”
‘And when I was about to eat, security knocked on my door.
“I obviously thought he wanted to talk to me so I opened the door and the next minute six police officers came through the door which hit me on the head.
“They handcuffed me without even saying a word and told me, ‘We know everything’ and ‘You’re wrong and we’re right’ and ‘You’re under arrest.’
“It was scary because obviously I didn’t do anything wrong. I was thinking, ‘Why are they treating me like a criminal?’
“At the same time, one of the officers said, ‘They’re going to give you the death penalty, they’re going to give you 25 years.’ And they were just laughing and joking about it.’
Waseem claimed that when he was taken to the police station, a senior officer told him that he was “innocent” and that he would be let out.
But he was then taken to a mass holding cell, where he spent the next two and a half months waiting for a bail hearing so he could be released.
He continued: ‘When they arrested me, they asked me all the questions.
“One of the officers, the CID chief who arrested me, said: ‘Don’t worry, they will release you in an hour, we know you are innocent, you had nothing to do with this.’
“Obviously I took his word and he said, ‘They’ll just take your fingerprints, walk in this door and you’ll be out in an hour.'”
‘I walked through this door and ended up in a whole prison cell with 200 people sleeping on the floor and just a bad smell.
“I said, ‘What is this? You said I was going out,’ and they just closed the door behind me and left me there.”
Waseem said he had been forced to sell assets, including his expensive cars, to quickly raise the money he needed for his legal representation.
He has also been banned from leaving Dubai while he awaits his next court appearances.
And while his lawyers believe he has a good chance of defending himself, Waseem said he was concerned about the impartiality of the local judicial system.
He said: “I am happy to have been released on bail, but I am also very worried because my lawyers have said: ‘This is Dubai, anything can happen here.'”
“They don’t want to give me false hope.”
“I had to move to another place because I can’t stay in the same place because of paranoia.”
MailOnline has contacted the British embassy in Dubai for comment.
It comes as an 18-year-old British tourist faces 20 years in prison in Dubai after being accused of having sex with a 17-year-old girl during a family holiday.
Marcus Fakana, from Tottenham, London, was held in a notorious UAE prison for days after police found out about his Christmas romance from his “strict” mother.
The couple “had a wonderful time together” during a vacation in August, and met in secret because she was afraid she wouldn’t be able to tell her mother that she was dating a boy. They hoped to continue their relationship when they returned to London.
But as the girl’s furious mother later discovered and told police in Dubai about the relationship when they returned to the UK, Marcus now faces two decades inside a grueling Dubai prison.
‘When she left, I couldn’t wait to see her again when I got home. Then suddenly the police knocked on the door of our hotel,” Marcus told the British humanitarian organization Detained in Dubai.
“They said they were going to take me in for questioning but they didn’t tell me why. I couldn’t imagine why. “I was scared and my parents were terrified.”
Dubai has recently reformed its laws on sex outside of marriage for tourists, but maintains a strict Islamic legal system and has no firm rule on the age of consent.
Under local law, a child is defined as a person under 18 years of age. The relationship would be legal in the UK and the girl turned 18.