Dubai: Nineteen men, said to be part of two gangs of bootleggers, have been accused of getting into a group fight which resulted in the death of one person and critical injuries to another.
The 19 Chinese men, aged between 19 and 47, armed themselves with swords, axes, knives and cleavers indulged in a group fight in an open parking lot at the Dubai International City’s Chinese Cluster in March 2016.
An Egyptian manager, who lived in a flat adjacent to where the fighting happened, spotted two groups of Chinese men exchanging attacks with sharp tools, according to records, and also documented part of the attack on his smart phone.
Crowds of workers witnessed some of the assailants putting two several injured victims into a car to rush them away from the scene.
Police and ambulance cars rushed to the location after Dubai Police operations room was informed about the fighting that lasted nearly 10 minutes.
preliminary investigations led to the arrest of 16 suspects while three others remained at large.
Prosecutors accused 16 suspects of assaulting one man with axes, knives, swords, and causing his death. They were also accused of attacking another one and causing him critical injuries.
Two other suspects were charged with indulging in the group fight and injuring four men from the other group [16 suspects].
A 33-year-old suspect was solely accused of aiding and abetting one of the main assailants, who masterminded the fight, to escape from the UAE.
Meanwhile, two of the runaway suspects were accused of possessing liquor and bootlegging.
A police lieutenant testified to prosecutors that preliminary investigations revealed the involvement of 16 suspects.
“We were tipped off that the suspects had run away from Dubai and taken refuge in Fujairah. Police teams headed for Fujairah and the suspects were seen at the beach side. When they saw police cars, they ran away towards the mountains … however, we chased them down and arrested them. Other suspects were arrested in Al Warqa’a. During questioning, the suspects claimed that they indulged in the fighting between two bootlegging gangs,” he claimed.
The trial continues.
