Mohammad Asif arrested in Dubai on drugs charges by AFP

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Player:

Mohammad Asif

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DateLine: 3rd June 2008

 

Pakistani fast bowler Mohammad Asif has been arrested at Dubai airport on charges of possessing illegal drugs, cricket officials said Tuesday.

 

The 25-year-old Asif was seized while returning home from India after featuring in a domestic event which ended on Sunday, said the Pakistan Cricket Board officials.

 

"Yes, we can confirm about Asif's arrest. He was stopped at Dubai airport on charges of carrying opium and was supposed to be brought before the magistrate on Tuesday," the official said.

 

PCB human resources director Nadeem Akram said he was in Dubai and has also hired a lawyer to assist Asif.

 

"I am in Dubai as part of the PCB's efforts to get Asif cleared. As far as we know a contraband item was in his wallet which he himself did not know and it's in a very small quantity," Akram told AFP by telephone.

 

"He was detained at the airport and was interrogated. As far as we know no first incident report has been lodged as yet but police have conducted several tests on Asif including a urine test. A lawyer has also been hired," he said.

 

PCB spokesman Shafqat Nagmi told a news conference in the eastern city of Lahore that Asif claimed the substance involved was medicine.

 

"The lawyer said Asif is in good spirits and he is looking forward to returning home. It is all based on some assumptions -- he said he had some medicine and they don't know about it," Nagmi said.

 

"The UAE (United Arab Emirates) has strict procedures -- they want to probe the matter to determine what the substance is. We are hopeful the entire issue is due to some misunderstanding."

 

The arrest is just the latest controversy to hit Pakistan's troubled cricket team over the last two years.

 

Asif was banned for one year after he tested positive for the steroid nandrolone in October 2006. Fellow paceman Shoaib Akhtar was banned for two years on the same charge.

 

The bans were however lifted on appeal two months later. Akhtar meanwhile is appealing a lifetime ban imposed in April for repeated disciplinary problems.

 

Asif was named on Monday as one of five pacemen in a 16-man squad to take part in next week's one-day tri-series in Bangladesh.

 

He has had recent problems with injury, undergoing an operation in Australia in December after an elbow problem recurred during the one-day series against South Africa two months earlier.

 

He missed Pakistan's tour of India late last year before being ruled out of the five-match home series against Zimbabwe.

(Article: Copyright © 2008 AFP)