The father of a Vancouver man freed from a prison in Dubai says he was ecstatic to hear his son had boarded a plane and was en route to Canada early Tuesday morning. 

Bert Tatham, 35, was among dozens of prisoners pardoned in the United Arab Emirates as part of an amnesty.

Bert Tatham, 35, had been sentenced to four years in prison on drug charges after he was arrested during a layover in Dubai on April 23 when he was found with less than 0.6 of a gram of hashish and two poppy bulbs.

He had been sentenced to four years in prison on drug charges after he was arrested during a layover in Dubai on April 23 when he was found with less than 0.6 of a gram of hashish and two poppy bulbs.

The anti-narcotics worker was on a trip back from Afghanistan where he was advising farmers on how to give up growing the profitable opium poppy.

His lawyer said the traces of hashish found in his trousers were mistakenly picked up during his work burning crops as part of a drug eradication plan. His mother Louise said the poppy bulbs were used as props and souvenirs.

Tatham's family heard at 1:30 a.m. ET that the plane carrying their son had departed Dubai and is expected to arrive in Toronto Tuesday evening.

"We're feeling ecstatic," his father Charlie Tatham told CBC News from his home in Duntroon, Ont., but added the family was at first "apprehensive" when they heard the news.

In October, Tatham's parents heard he might be released and became "quite despondent" when it didn't happen.

Tatham's return seemed just as uncertain this time. At 5 a.m. Monday, the family received a phone call from the consulate in Dubai saying their son would be released that day, but on the condition the family send an electronic ticket within 20 minutes.

The two scrambled to secure a flight and had some computer problems due to a virus, but finally managed to send the necessary information to the consulate.

When they spoke with Bert later that day, he was at the deportation centre and the news was just sinking in, his father said.

"He was just sort of transitioning from skepticism to ecstasy," said Charlie.

For the past 8½ months, Bert has endured "mind-numbing boredom," stuck in a facility like a "waiting room with no furniture," said his father.

"He's burned out and exhausted and bitter about the whole thing," said Charlie.