Dubai: A jail warden faces three years in jail for accepting a bribe to smuggle hashish to an inmate who is serving time in a drug case, ruled a court on Sunday.

The Dubai Court of First Instance convicted the 25-year-old Emirati first policeman [a jail warden at Dubai Central Prison] of unlawfully taking Dh6,000 in bribe.

Presiding Judge Fahmi Mounir, who pronounced yesterday's judgment, also fined the accused Dh6,000.

When the accused, identified as A.S., appeared in court earlier, he pleaded not guilty and denied the charge of requesting Dh6,000 in bribe to smuggle hashish to an inmate.

Prosecutors accused A.S. of abusing his job as a jail warden and accepting a bribe from the Emirati inmate, K.J., to smuggle hashish for him.

According to the chargesheet, the prosecutors accused A.S. of requesting for money, assaulting an Emirati first corporal, M.W., and resisting arrest.

When Presiding Judge Mounir levelled the charges against A.S., the latter contended that the incident did not happen.

K.J. testified that the incident happened after he befriended A.S. while serving his prison term.

"We got acquainted because we used to meet a lot in prison. We used to chat a lot and he knew that I was using medical pills for my mental illness… He once asked me ‘would you like to entertain yourself?' When I asked him what he meant, he immediately replied that he was ready to support me with hashish.

"I asked him for time to think. I informed the prison's director, who connected me to a police major… the latter asked me to act as if I accepted his offer and see how much he required me to pay. That act was part of a sting operation to lure the suspect," K.J. said in his prosecution statement.

Prosecution records said that the inmate gave the contact details of the police major [without revealing his identity] to A.S. who agreed to smuggle the drugs for Dh6,000.

The Emirati police major testified that he arranged with the defendant to hand him the drugs and collect the cash in front of a mall in Jumeirah.

"Later, I informed him that my younger brother would meet him instead... M.W. [who was part of the arresting team that monitored the deed] posed as my younger brother…

"As soon as M.W. collected the money, the arresting team swung into action and detained A.S. in a sting operation," the major claimed during prosecution questioning. The primary judgment is subject to appeal within 15 days.