A popular British influencer will long remember her time in a prison in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, where she was arrested on drug-related charges.
Kaz Crossley, a finalist for UK reality show Love Island in 2018, was not on his first visit to the ultra-conservative Middle East country.
In 2020, amid the COVID-19 pandemic, several influencers had found temporary sanctuary in the United Arab Emirates, where health restrictions were less stringent than in Europe. For her part, she claimed to be in Dubai “for work”.
Two years later, the influencer was on her way to Thailand to work for a humanitarian organization in Phuket.
During their stopover in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the Emirates, Emirati customs officials were waiting to question them about a video that recently resurfaced on social media.
The mere-second clip shows her consuming “an unknown white substance” that resembles cocaine, a strictly prohibited drug.
All drug use is severely repressed in the country; Violators of the law risk a minimum of three years in prison for the first offense in addition to fines of up to $30,000.
his imprisonment
Arrested immediately because of the compromising video, the influencer was transferred to a prison in Dubai, where she claims to have lived through hell.
She was reportedly denied all telephone calls to her relatives, which worried her deeply.
Four days later, the influencer reassured her nearly one million followers on Instagram.
“I’m fine, thanks for all your messages. I want to take some time to reflect on what just happened to me (…)” she wrote in a fleeting image on the social network as she exited the correctional facility.
According to sources close to the woman, Crossley was locked in a large cell with 30 women without air conditioning, where the temperature would have reached 30C.