British rocker Pete Doherty fined for drugs possession

Jun 17, 2006, 17:23 GMT

Stockholm - Controversial British rock musician Pete Doherty was fined Saturday after a drugs test indicated he had traces of cocaine in his body, Swedish police said.

Doherty and his band Babyshambles arrived late Friday in Sweden to play at the annual Hultsfred Festival in southern Sweden.

After a delay in customs at Stockholm's Arlanda Airport, the band continued to Hultsfred some 400 kilometres south of the capital.

The band hit the stage at around 2.30 am (0030 GMT) Saturday, over an hour later than scheduled.

'The performance was such that we believed he was on drugs,' Kalmar police spokesman Ulf Karlsson said.

After the act, Doherty was tested and the sample showed traces of cocaine and benzodiazepines, Karlsson added.

Doherty had a prescription for the benzodiapines, but the prosecutor ruled that he should be fined over the cocaine traces, noting that Doherty was leaving the country Saturday.

He paid 14,000 kronor (1,900 dollars) and was released. Doherty had no comment to the incident, Karlsson said.

The Hultsfred Festival, based in a little town of some 10,000 people, started in 1986. The three-day festival ends late Saturday and has sold almost 30,000 tickets this year.