Pakistan's Asif arrested on drug charges

Pakistani fast bowler Mohammad Asif has been arrested at Dubai airport on charges of possessing illegal drugs, cricket officials said on Tuesday.

The 25-year-old Asif was seized while returning home from India after featuring in a domestic event that ended on Sunday, a Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) official said on condition of anonymity.

“Yes, we can confirm about Asif’s arrest. He was stopped at Dubai airport on charges of carrying opium and was supposed to be brought before the magistrate on Tuesday,” the official said.

The PCB would brief the media about the situation later on Tuesday, he said.

The arrest is just the latest controversy to hit Pakistan’s troubled cricket team over the last two years.

Asif was banned for one year after he tested positive for the steroid nandrolone in October 2006.

Fellow paceman Shoaib Akhtar was banned for two years on the same charge.

The bans were, however, lifted on appeal two months later.

Akhtar, meanwhile, is appealing a lifetime ban imposed in April for repeated disciplinary problems.—Sapa-AFP