Egyptian court chief sacked after arrested with possession of drug

The Egyptian justice ministry accepted the resignation of a court chief after he was arrested with 68 kilograms of hashish in his car at a tunnel between Suez and North Sinai provinces northeast of the capital Cairo, the ministry said in a statement Thursday.

Judge Tarek Mohamed Zaki, chief of Sharqiya Misdemeanor Court, had his judicial immunity lifted on Wednesday after his large possession of the drug was revealed by a police dog in a checkpoint at the tunnel.

The justice ministry sacked the senior judge, who has been referred to the general prosecution.

Rates of drug smuggling, taking and addiction are high in the most populous Arab country that about 10.4 percent of the population aged from 15 to 65 takes drugs, stated Amr Osman, director of Egypt's Drug Control and Addiction Treatment Fund, in a previous interview with Xinhua.

Hashish, painkilling tablets such as Tramadol and Tamol, heroin and marijuana are the most prevailing types of drugs in Egypt while the police seize averagely 200 drug-related cases every day.