June 14, 2008	Saturday	Jamadi-us-Sani 09, 1429

KARACHI, June 13: A top Dubai legal officer will begin an inquiry in the Gulf state next week into the drug case against Pakistan paceman Mohammad Asif, a Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) official said on Friday.

The attorney general of the emirate, where the 25-year-old paceman was detained on June 1 as he was returning home from India after featuring in the IPL, will conduct the inquiry.

“Our lawyer has confirmed that Asif’s case will start on June 22 and no charges have yet been lodged against him,” said PCB’s Chief Operating Officer Shafqat Naghmi.

Agencies add: Although PCB officials on Friday confirmed that authorities in Dubai had extended Asif’s detention to June 22, they said this was purely because of legal requirements and law of the land.

The source said authorities had got Asif’s detention extended since the law in Dubai bars them from detaining a suspect for more then 14 days and an extension was needed in the case as more investigations had to be carried out. Asif has been in detention since June 1 after being allegedly caught with contraband item at Dubai airport.

Meanwhile, PCB Chairman Dr Nasim Ashraf, before leaving for Dhaka on Friday, made it clear that the board wouldn’t react until it has analysed the full facts of the case.

“We are not aware of all the facts and we cannot comment until we know the facts. Once we get all the facts we will do our own inquiry (when he returns home) and complete our investigations and take appropriate action,” he added.

Asif was banned for one year after testing positive for the steroid nandrolone in Oct 2006.