On Sunday, the Egyptian Public Prosecutor’s Office issued a statement regarding the developments in the case of actress Menna Shalaby, surprised a few days ago at Cairo’s international airport while she was transporting substances suspected of being narcotics.
In its statement, the prosecutor’s office denied the validity of the news circulated on the information sites, referring Shalabi to the Criminal Court following the case.
The Public Prosecutor’s Office confirmed that the case is still being investigated.
The Public Prosecutor has invited all press and media institutions to respect the statements made by the Declarations Department of the Public Prosecutor’s Office regarding the cases that the Prosecutor’s Office is investigating, “as the only official source for all information relating to the work of the Public Prosecutor’s Office of the Republic”.
And the Egyptian prosecutor’s office announced on Friday that it had ordered the release of the actress, Menna Shalaby, after her interrogation, after she was caught at Cairo’s international airport with substances suspected of being narcotic.
Prosecutors said the eviction order requires the actress to pay financial security of fifty thousand pounds (about $1,955).
The Cairo International Airport authorities had seized the actress as she returned from abroad while she was completing customs procedures, and she was in possession of bags which showed the presence of suspected narcotic substances after having examined them with X-rays and inspection.
A report from the General Department of Narcotic Control indicated that it concluded that “the defendant had obtained these substances with intent to use.”
Shalaby denied the charge of possession of drugs for the purpose of use, while the investigations are nearing completion, according to the Egyptian prosecutor’s office, and the seized materials are being sent to forensic laboratories for examination.
And Egyptian media had said preliminary investigations revealed that the security services “confiscated 12 bags of the narcotic marijuana plant that were in the possession of the artist, Menna Shalaby, during his return from New York.”
And the laws of the US state of New York allow smoking hashish or marijuana in public places where smoking regular cigarettes is allowed, but it remains prohibited in workplaces, colleges and hospitals and no closer than 100 feet from any school.
In Egypt, possession and use of narcotics are punishable by imprisonment and fines.
