Dubai: A businessman, who forged three passports including that of the UN, to cheat a jeweller out of Dh770,000 in a bogus diamond deal, has been jailed for two years.

The 40-year-old Zairian businessman, E.S., forged three passports, (UN, Canadian and Congolese) and sealed them with a forged Dubai Airport’s exit stamp. Then he used the passport to swindle a jeweller and embezzle the latter’s Dh770,000 with other suspects who remain at large.

The Dubai Court of First Instance jailed E.S. one year over forgery and one year over swindling and embezzlement.

Presiding judge Ezzat Abdul Lat said the forged passports will be confiscated and the accused will be deported following the completion of his punishment.

E.S. had denied the charges of forgery, using forged documents and fraud.

“I did not forge any passport or swindle anything. When the policemen searched me without a warrant, they seized the three forged passports in my car,” said the Zairian.

When the forged passports were showed to the defendant in court, E.S. defended: “The police did not present a warrant when they searched my car and seized the UN, Canadian and Congolese passports. The passports do not belong to me.”

Records said the defendant and his accomplices told the jeweller they wanted to sell diamonds to him at a discounted rate. E.S. posed as someone called Steve when they sealed the diamond deal in July 2013.

Court records did not identify the nationality of the jeweller, who agreed to buy the diamonds from E.S. and his accomplices at a hotel.

“He showed me the diamonds when we met in a hotel’s lobby. The next day I paid them Dh770,000 and they handed me diamonds wrapped with special paper. When they left the hotel I opened the wrappings to discover that the diamonds had been replaced by glass,” said the jeweller.

A police lieutenant said the Zairian was identified through surveillance cameras at the hotel where the deal happened.

“Police arrested the defendant in a sting operation. We seized in his car three forged passports and a few mobiles. During questioning he admitted that he was aware about the runaways’ plan to cheat the jeweller,” said the lieutenant.

Thursday’s ruling remains subject to appeal within 15 days.