Brit, 22, Jailed For Drugs Charges In Dubai Has Now Been Fined £3,000 For Overstaying Her Visa

A 22-year-old recruitment consultant from Leeds has finally been released from Dubai jail after a 12-month stint for drugs charges… only to be slapped with a £3,000 fine for overstaying her visa.

Isabella Daggett was arrested in the UAE city on March 2025, five weeks after moving to Dubai for work. She was detained during a drugs raid at an apartment where she was staying temporarily after her initial housing arrangements fell through.

A year on, all charges were dropped and Isabella was released. Despite this, authorities refused to let her return to the UK until she paid a fine of approximately £3,000 (AED 14,000) for overstaying her visa – a situation caused by her year-long incarceration.

Obviously she had no choice but to pay the fine, and then flew back to the UK and was reunited with her family.

Isabella’s family protested her innocence throughout the whole ordeal, and put the incident down to her keeping the ‘wrong company’.

Her grandma said at the time: ‘Wrong place, wrong time. Wrong boyfriend.’

‘She was arrested with a lad that was not her boyfriend, who she was staying with because things had fallen through with another house.’

On the ‘kick in the teeth’ that was the £3,000 fine:

‘Everyone thought she would be straight on a plane home as soon as the charges were dropped, because that should have been the end of it.

‘But then came this £3,000 visa overstay fine, which absolutely stunk.

‘It felt like one last kick in the teeth after everything she’d already been through.

‘There’s just huge relief now. They’ve got her back. That’s all they wanted.’

Isabella had a rough time in jail, reportedly being denied a shower for a month and a change of clothes for three months. However, she was allowed to speak to her mum and nan every day, so that’s nice.

It does appear that Isabella was wrongly incarcerated given she reportedly had no drugs in her system, and was simply present at the time the raid was conducted at this bloke’s house (who remains imprisoned). To slap a £3,000 fine on the girl for overstaying her visa because you’ve had her in prison the whole time is indeed a bit of a p1sstake.

Still, I’m sure if you’d told her family they could buy her freedom for £3,000, they would have bitten your hand off. Stay well away from drugs in the UAE – even if they’re not yours and you’ve got no plans to use them.

To listen to rapper Fredo describe his own experience in Dubai jail, click HERE.