An aspiring actor was greeted at Los Angeles International Airport by family members, including his tearful mother, and friends after serving two years in a Pakistani prison on drug charges.
Erik Anthony Aude — who had minor roles in the TV show “Reba” and the film “Dude, Where’s My Car?” — was freed Thursday from a jail in Rawalpindi, a city near Islamabad, Pakistan’s capital.
“I feel wonderful,” Aude told The Associated Press in a phone interview. “This is the best gift I could ever ask for, spending time with some wonderful friends and family.”
Aude had missed a scheduled Christmas Day flight, but a throng of supporters returned Sunday to the airport to greet him.
“You really have no idea how lucky we are as Americans. We live like kings,” Aude said. “I’m lucky to be here on American soil and I’ll never take advantage of that again.”
He declined to talk about his prison ordeal.
Aude was arrested at Islamabad airport Feb. 15, 2002, after authorities said they found 7.9 pounds of opium in a suitcase he was carrying minutes before he was to leave on a flight for Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
He maintained he had no idea how the drugs got into his luggage but was sentenced in January 2003 to seven years in prison. Two months ago, a convicted drug dealer declared in a sworn statement that he never told Aude about the drugs in the suitcase.