A British chef once branded the 'smoke master' claims he was thrown in jail for 19 months in Dubai after police thought a customer booking a table was code for a drugs deal.
Luke Tully was thrown behind bars in the United Arab Emirates amid the confusion and has now spoken out to warn others not to visit the country if you "value your liberty".
The chef was working at a restaurant in the city when he was sent a text message by a dealer he knew requesting a table for 10 people.
When the dealer was arrested, police seized his phone and read the message to 43-year-old Mr Tully, believing the message was code for a drug deal for 10g of cocaine.
The dad-of-four has said police officers threatened to throw him off a balcony unless he “told them where the drugs were” before he was thrown in a cell for more than a year.
Mr Tully, who featured in Time Out Dubai back in 2018, was said to be leading a team at a new restaurant.
The review for SMK (Smoked Meat Kitchen) read that is was "soon to open at beachside location La Mer, with a team who have been trained at London’s Smokestak – a barbecue restaurant in Shoreditch.
"SMK will be led by British “smoke master” Luke Tully, and the restaurant will serve up slow-cooked meat."
Mr Tully claims to have spent £150,000 on legal fees and is now back home in Bishop’s Stortford, Hertfordshire, after the case was thrown out when a judge ruled there was not enough evidence.
In a message to fellow Brits planning to visit the UAE, he said: “Don’t bother if you value your liberty.”
