Airport porter accused of stealing nuts

Dubai: An airport porter has been accused of opening the luggage of a passenger and stealing a pack of mixed nuts.

The 21-year-old Pakistani porter, M.A., was said to have been spotted on surveillance cameras a number of times opening passengers’ bags and looking for something to steal at the conveyor belt in February.

Prosecutors accused M.A. of stealing a pack of mixed nuts from an unidentified passenger’s bag and attempting to steal from other passengers’ belongings.

The defendant failed to show up before the Dubai Court of First Instance and enter his plea on Monday.

An Indian safety and security officer at the airport claimed to prosecutors that he discovered M.A.’s bid to steal from passengers’ bags in April.

“I was checking out the CCTV cameras in April when I discovered that M.A. had tried to open two passengers’ bags and looked for something to steal in February. However he did not find any valuables to steal from the passengers who were bound for Birmingham,” he said.

Meanwhile, a policeman testified to prosecutors that M.A. admitted to him after his arrest that he opened passengers’ bags in search of food to eat.

The suspect was quoted as telling prosecutors that he opened bags in search for something to eat. He also confessed that he stole mixed nuts.

The presiding judge will hand out a ruling in absentia against the defendant next month.