DRUGS WERE 'OCCUPATIONAL HAZARD,' ONTARIO MAN WRITES

'He Fears The Worst'

As he faces drugs charges in a Dubai jail cell, Canadian
anti-narcotics official Bert Tatham tells what happened the day of his
arrest, providing what amounts to testimony his trial judges may not
have heard as they prepare their verdict tomorrow.

His account comes in a letter to "whom it may concern" that he --
compiled behind bars following his April 23 arrest in the tiny Arab
emirate, where the Ontario native is currently in a cell that contains
up to seven others.

It explains in his words why he was carrying two dried poppy flowers
as he returned to Canada from his latest year-long tour in
Afghanistan. More importantly for the charges against him, it tells
how Mr. Tatham believes Dubai officials could have found a tiny amount
of hashish on him, and how a test of his urine showed traces of
narcotics ingestion. Finally it details the possible misunderstanding
he feels occurred during his interrogation at the Dubai airport.

"I was not confident that those who took down my answers were fluent
English speakers," he writes in a non-critical, but clearly concerned way.

"In fact, despite my protests, I suspect that virtually the opposite
of what I told them was recorded as my statement."

Mr. Tatham, 35, faces at least the typical sentence of four years in
jail if convicted of charges of possession of illicit drugs and
intention to distribute them. The amount of hashish involved is only
0.6 grams, but the emirate is renowned for its no-tolerance policy
regarding drugs offences.

"He fears the worst and thinks he's going to get the four years," his
mother Louise, 60, said yesterday from his parental home in
Collingwood after getting off the phone with her son.

His parents' number is among half a dozen that prison rules allow him
to list as people he can call. Another is Sara Gilmer, his girlfriend
of almost two years, who tells in a separate interview of her anguish.
Mr. Tatham refers to her in his missive as his fiancee, and indeed the
couple was planning to settle down in his current hometown of Vancouver.

Dubai is a common transit hub for travellers between south Asia and
points west, and Mr. Tatham landed there following completion of his
latest anti-narcotics contract in Afghanistan.

It appears he planned to spend a small amount of time sightseeing
before taking a connecting flight, and as he passed through customs,
officials came across the two poppy flowers that Mr. Tatham says were
"carefully wrapped in a silk scarf and rug for protection."

Though their dried state meant they had no utility in drug production,
their presence is presumed to have prompted Dubai officials to conduct
a more thorough search of Mr. Tatham, during which they told him they
had found hashish.

Mr. Tatham says he was aware of Dubai's strict rules, but it appears
he miscalculated the red-flag effect of the poppy flowers, which he
says he was transporting to Canada for use as props in lectures he
expected to give.

"For example, I had been invited to speak about my experiences to
groups as diverse as the Canadian government to my fiancee's grade
school class," he writes in reference to Ms. Gilmer's job as a
substitute elementary school teacher in Victoria, B.C. As for his
possession of any hashish, or the presence of drug residue in his
body, he refers to his anti-narcotics work of the past year stationed
in the southern Afghan region of Kandahar alongside (but not connected
to) the bulk of Canada's 2,500 troops in the country.

"Drugs was a major occupational hazard" Mr. Tatham writes. "I
handled hashish and other substances regularly in Afghanistan as part
of my role as a counter-narcotics official.

"Aware of this, I took what I thought was good care to ensure that
none remained in my belongings before I left for my home in Canada,
including putting all my clothes through the laundry."

According to evidence Dubai prosecutors presented at his trial last
week, his precautions fell short. "You can imagine my surprise when I
was searched at the Dubai airport and was shown a small object said to
be hashish found in a front pocket of my jeans," he says. "How this
would have made it through the laundry, as well as the previous four
or five searches at [Afghanistan's] Kabul airport earlier in the day
is unknown to me?"

Western aid workers in Afghanistan say hashish is ubiquitous, and Mr.
Tatham also says it is "sadly a deep part of Afghan culture" in the
region in which he worked. "It was not unusual in [the] course of my
day to be offered this substance, even by police and government
officials," he writes as he explains one scenario whereby he might
place hashish in his pocket.

"I often had to accept these 'gifts' and dispose of them discretely
after finishing meetings."

He illustrates several ways hashish or other drugs could have entered
his system. One was at official burnings of confiscated narcotics.
"The fumes from this were unavoidable," he says. Another is that
people commonly unknowingly ingest it "in food where it was used in
its preparation."

"The most recent example was where I was offered yogurt at a lunch
that I found out after contained a large amount of hashish," he says.

Mr. Tatham says his letter repeats what he told interrogating officers
at the Dubai airport, but fears his answers at that time were misinterpreted.

"For example, my telling them about being exposed to drugs in my
work became, 'I used drugs in Afghanistan,' " he writes.

"My lack of any knowledge of having hashish became, 'I forgot I put
it in my pocket.' "

He concludes he has the "utmost respect" for Dubai's laws.