A TOURIST who was at risk of being extradited to Qatar after he was caught with an empty cannabis grinder and charged with drug offences has told of his nightmare journey back to Scotland.

Conor Howard, 27, is relieved to finally be home after three months in a Greek jail, but was worried he would not return to Scotland.

He was stopped in Qatar last October while on a stopover flight between Australia, where he had lived for a year, and the UK.

The drug paraphernalia, which had never been used and was bought “for a joke”, was confiscated but Conor was allowed to return home to Tranent.

However, when he travelled to Corfu in August to visit his mother and stepfather, Conor was detained by Greek authorities after they were informed of an outstanding international arrest warrant issued by Qatar.

The Gulf state alleged that Conor had been in possession of drugs.

Conor was held in a Greek prison and later released on bail, but he was not allowed to leave the country until his court hearing.

The stress of the ordeal even caused Conor’s stepdad Robert to have a heart attack.

But last Wednesday, a Greek court denied Qatar’s request to extradite him.

Conor, an engineer, arrived home on Sunday and is glad to be back safe with his family and girlfriend.

He said: “It’s fantastic.

“I never thought this day would come but it’s finally here.

“There were times – especially when I was in prison – I thought I wasn’t going to get home.

“It felt like it was never going to end. Then I had an email from Qatar saying the charges were getting dropped.

“The flight home was not exactly smooth.

“We got delayed by three hours because of ice on the wing of the plane.

“Then a fuel tanker actually hit the wing and they had to get engineers out to fix it.

“It took so long I missed my connecting flight in London and had to stay another day. That one extra day felt like an extra week.

“There were people who were coming to the airport to meet me on Saturday but I couldn’t make it.

“I’ve literally just stepped out of the airport.

“I’m just going to see my family and spend time with them and my girlfriend.”