When Patrick went to a media launch for a new smartphone in Dubai, the Gulf’s tourism and commercial hub, the expatriate never imagined that the evening would end in a police station.
After an enthusiastic embrace of the free bar that so often graces such marketing events, a verbal altercation with a taxi driver led to his arrest.
His contrite response to police questioning over his non-existent liquor licence — the official permission residents and visitors need to drink alcohol in the United Arab Emirates — helped secure his release after a night in the cells. A friend, who went through a similar experience, was “mouthy and aggressive”. He faced a different fate.
“They threw the book at him,” said Patrick, who declined to give his surname. “He went to court, paid a fine and left Dubai as soon as he got his passport back.”
Boozy brunches, high-end restaurants and seedy nightclubs have long formed part of Dubai’s allure for expatriates putting down roots in the conservative Gulf and tourists seeking winter sun. But for decades, consuming alcohol without a licence left people liable to a fine or jail term, generating headlines in the western press about legal jeopardy in Dubai.
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