Dubai: An aiport porter sought leniency in court yesterday, after admitting that he tried to steal a passenger's mobile phone, before a law enforcement officer caught him.
"Yes, I tried to steal the mobile phone ... I am sorry for that and ask you for mercy," the 23-year-old Indian porter told Presiding Judge Mohammad Majid Bel Abed at the Dubai Court of First Instance.
Prosecutors charged the suspect, C.R., with attempting to steal a passenger's phone.
According to the chargesheet an Omani law enforcement officer, at the Dubai International Airport, found the defendant trying to steal the mobile phone. "The suspect arrived at the metal detecting device where he was supposed to be checked before he left work around 4.30am ... he carried a mobile phone which had a special airport-sticker which read "private".
Sticker
"Airport employees usually use such a sticker to protect their phones against being stolen or lost.
"I took the phone from him to check it because I suspected it was stolen ... the brand new phone didn't carry an SIM card.
"First, he claimed that he owned the phone, later he admitted that he stole it from the passengers' luggage," said the Omani officer in his prosecution statement.
A verdict will be heard on May 27.
