Dubai A woman deportee, who cross-dressed when she illegally re-entered the country in men's clothing on a small boat, has been jailed for a year for using a forged passport.
The Dubai Court of First Instance on Tuesday jailed the 30-year-old Indian woman, P.B., for one year after being convicted for using as forged passport to make a hotel reservation.
P.B. was earlier deported from the UAE for her involvement in a prostitution case in 2010. Prosecution records said she had been staying illegally in the country before the police arrested her in September 2011.
"The accused will be deported following the completion of her jail term," said Presiding Judge Al Saeed Mohammad Barghout when he pronounced Tuesday's judgment this morning.
Court sources told Gulf News that police earlier detained P.B. in a prostitution case and she got deported. Then when she wanted to return to Dubai, she dressed up in men's outfit and came here on a boat illegally. She stayed for a period before she was arrested again for her involvement in a forgery case.
When she appeared in court last month, P.B. pleaded not guilty and refuted the forgery accusations.
Prosecutors said P.B. and another suspect, who remains at large, forged a passport by replacing her photo with that of the passport's original holder. She was additionally charged with using the forged passport.
When P.B. defended herself before Presiding Judge Barghout, she contended that she did not know that the passport was forged.
