Dammam: Fayaz Ullal, a youth from India who was arrested three months ago by Saudi Arabian police at Dammam airport on charges of possession cache of drugs banned in Middle East, was released, after persistent efforts from Indian Social Forum.
Fayaz, son of Ibrahim from Ullal had reached Dammam three months ago and he was carrying a stock of tablets prescribed by his doctor in Indian for Epilepsy simply because those medicines are not available in Dammam. However, the customs officials at Dammam Airport arrested him on charges of illegal drug trafficking as Fayaz failed to produce the prescriptions for the medications.
Though Fayaz’s family had brought the matter to notice of Ministry for External Affairs Sushma Swaraj, release of Fayaz seemed bleak.
Relatives of Fayaz contacted ISF, who instantly registered the case with the Indian Embassy and soon provided all the documents that were needed for the release.
Fayaz was released on February 6. However, learning lesson from Fayaz’s experience, the ISF is planning to release booklet listing all banned drugs which will come handy to Non Resident Indians, who often run into trouble due to lack of awareness.
The ISF has also urged travelers to make sure they either do not carry drugs while traveling to the Middle East or carry the drugs with valid prescriptions etc to be on safer side.
