KARACHI: Detained Pakistani pacer Mohammad Asif is likely to be deported back home next week after the Attorney General in Dubai gives a final verdict on the bowler by June 16.
"The Attorney General is scheduled to hear the prosecution's findings into the case on Sunday and the feelers we have got is that he will pass an order to deport Asif by Monday," a well informed Pakistan Cricket Board source said.
Although PCB officials on Friday confirmed that authorities in Dubai had extended Asif's detention to June 22 but 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 authorities from detaining a suspect for more then 14 days and an extension was needed in case more investigations had to carried out.
Asif has been in detention since June 1 after being allegedly caught with contraband drugs at Dubai airport.
Laboratory tests later confirmed the substance found on him was hashish.
The Pakistani media has been rife with speculations over Asif's fate but the PCB Chairman Nasim Ashraf, before leaving for Dhaka, made it clear the board wouldn't react until it 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," Ashraf said.
The media has reported that Asif could be facing more serious problems after he comes back from Dubai if the government here starts taking interest in his case as it involves drugs.
"Already some influential people in the government have conveyed to the board their displeasure over a top player's involvement in anything to do with drugs and in a case that has caused plenty of embarrassment to Pakistan," one source s
