by Maja Gojkovic

Radio 1 DJ Grooverider has been sentenced to a four year prison sentence in Dubai after being caught and charged with possession of Cannabis. DJ Grooverider who’s real name is Raymond Bingham admitted to carrying Cannabis into the country. The 40 year old DJ who co-hosts the Radio 1 show Grooverider and Fabio was arrested at Dubai airport on November 23 with 2.16 grams of the drug in his possession only hours before he was due to play a sold out gig at a popular nightclub.

The DJ’s lawyers have have tried to argue in his defence that he was unaware of the laws, according to a BBC spokesperson “He made a serious mistake and is is paying a very high price”. I second that!

The DJ has been off the air since the incident occurred in November although he has not officially been suspended by the radio station he is not being paid a salary by the BBC. The DJ has provided his own legal representation.

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

The DJ has commented recently saying “I just want this to end and to never come back. It was a small amount. Back home I would not even get prosecuted.”

DJ Grooverider who rose to fame by hosting illegal warehouse parties and is also recognised as a pioneer of the abrasive style of dance music known as drum and bass. DJ Grooverider is also a recording artist and record label owner and an in-demand DJ on the international club circuit. His colleague Fabio and co-host of his radio show on Radio 1 will continue to present the show in his absence.

Tags: dj jailed, radio 1

This entry was posted on Wednesday, February 20th, 2008 at 2:08 pm and is filed under Music, News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.