Asif back home after drug charges dropped

(CNN) -- Pakistan fast bowler Mohammad Asif returned home on Friday after being detained for three weeks in Dubai on drug charges.

Dubai public prosecutors dropped the case on Thursday and announced that the player would be deported to Pakistan.

He had been held at Dubai airport on June 1 when returning home from a domestic tournament in India and charged with possessing a small amount of opium.

"I am relieved to have returned to my country," Asif told reporters at the Lahore international airport and denied that he was guilty of transporting any contraband.

"I have not used any banned item. I was tested twice during my stint in (the Indian domestic tournament) and had there been something wrong the ICC (International Cricket Council) would have banned me," said Asif.

"I am thankful to the Pakistan ambassador in the UAE Ahsanullah Khan and Pakistan Cricket Board official Nadeem Akram who came to Dubai to assist me, and of course the board which did its best to encourage me during this difficult time," he said.

The PCB said it would form a three-member inquiry committee to probe the incident.

Asif met PCB chief Nasim Ashraf later on Friday and said afterwards: "I feel shame and apologize to the whole nation over what happened."

The Board said: "We appreciate the professional manner in which the whole issue was dealt with by the Dubai police prosecution department and the United Arab Emirates authorities.

"The drug tests conducted on Asif during the investigations in Dubai were clear and negative for any contraband substance," the statement said.

Mohammad Al Nuaimi, the Dubai prosecutor who handled the charges, said on Thursday it was "definite that he committed the crime of smuggling and possessing 0.24 grams of opium as he was caught red-handed.

"However in certain cases and for a faster litigation process the public prosecution drops a case due to insignificance and deports the suspect," he said, according to the online version of the local daily Gulf News.