Katie Price's husband, Lee Andrews, was being held in Dubai over a 'private civil matter' rather than suspectedspying, according to fresh reports on Monday, ending nearly two weeks of confusion over why the 33-year-old Briton was arrested in the UAE.
The news came after a swirl of dramatic claims from Katie Price herself, who told fans she had finally tracked down her husband in Dubai's Al Awir prison and that he had said local authorities believed he was a spy.
Andrews vanished from contact earlier this month while staying in the emirate, prompting a missing persons report and a very public search involving British police and consular officials.
Price, 46, said she managed to speak to Andrews in a brief and frantic call from the jail. 'It was very rushed, but he said the authorities out there thought he was a spy. I told him how worried I'd been and that I loved him,' she toldThe Sun, in remarks widely repeated across the tabloids.
Those espionage claims have now been quietly knocked down.The Sunreported that officials in Dubai had confirmed to the paper that Andrews was not detained on suspicion of spying, but over an unspecified civil dispute. 'Authorities have confirmed to us he was NOT held over spying charges. He is due for release on Monday [1 June] but must pay a four-figure fine,' the outlet said.
None of the Dubai authorities involved has publicly detailed the nature of the 'private civil matter,' and there is no official documentation in the public domain at this stage. Until records are released, the precise grounds for Andrews' detention remain unclear and should be treated with caution.
For context, Andrews' disappearance had quickly turned into a minor media saga, not least because it involved Katie Price, who has rarely shied away from sharing personal turmoil in real time.
In the days before his arrest, Andrews is understood to have moved out of his rental flat in Dubai and into his father's villa in the city. After that, communication simply stopped. Price and Andrews' family said they could not reach him, and his whereabouts were unknown for almost a fortnight.
He was then formally reported missing, and the story migrated from gossip columns to a police matter. Price used her podcast to vent her frustration and to make it clear that the search had escalated. 'The police are now handling it, the British police, British consulate, the foreign office, Interpol they're on the case looking for Lee,' she said, sounding more exhausted than theatrical for once.
On the same episode, recorded before Andrews was found, she said she was 'giving up the search' in practical terms. 'There's nothing I can do, nothing more that I can say and the police are dealing with it. I'm just leaving it to the police. I'm not gonna talk about it anymore, I'm just staying quiet because it's getting ridiculous now, people just taking the p*** out of everything.'
Source: International Business Times UK
