Gulf Newspapers speculated that jailed drum & bass DJ Grooverider could soon be released from his Dubai jail cell, as United Arab Emirates ruler President Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan announced he’s to pardon 700 prisoners to mark the holy month of Ramadan.

News portal ArabianBusiness.com said the name of the Radio 1 DJ ‘was on a list of possible pardons to be dealt with during Ramadan’, though at the time of writing (Friday August 29) was unable to confirm his release.

Al Bawaba newspaper also reported that Dubai Customs have started using a mobile van packed with state of the art high tech equipment to detect microscopic traces of drugs anywhere in the kingdom. The van includes ‘ion scan’ equipment, the machines that British police are increasingly using at entrances to pubs and clubs in the UK.

The controversial machines were tested on politicians entering the Welsh Assembly in 2005 when Conservative politician William Graham organised a voluntary demonstration. Edwina Hart, Wales Justice Minister, tested positive for cannabis after her hands were swabbed, the Observer reported, as did Mr Graham himself.

Both later claimed they’d picked up the traces off door handles, an explanation that’s unlikely to impress officials in the UAE where almost everybody is automatically jailed for 4 years for the slightest microscopic trace of a banned substance.