Dubai: An airport driver has been jailed for three months for stealing Dh10,500 and valuables from the handbag of a woman convict, who was being escorted to the airport to be deported.
The 38-year-old Pakistani driver opened the handbag of the Ugandan woman, took the cash and other valuables while transferring her bag from his vehicle to the airport’s terminal in July.
As the Ugandan woman had completed her punishment, a police patrol took her from the Dubai Central Jail to the Dubai International Airport to get her deported [upon a court order].
The 38-year-old driver was moving her travel bags from the vehicle to the departure terminal, when he opened the bag and took cash and other belongings.
The Ugandan reported the police once she realised that her cash and part of her belongings had disappeared from the bag.
The Dubai Court of First Instance sentenced the defendant in absentia.
According to the primary ruling, the presiding judge fined the defendant around Dh11,000 [an amount equivalent to the value of the cash and stolen items].
The accused will be deported after serving his punishment.
The defendant stole money in addition to perfumes, wristwatches, a digital tab, a flash memory, two sunglasses, mobile chargers and other items from the handbag.
An airport policeman said the woman was brought to the departure terminal to be deported when she alerted them that she had been robbed.
“The defendant’s job was to transfer deportees’ luggage to the airport terminal. We examined the surveillance cameras instantly after she reported that she had been robbed. The accused was seen opening the luggage and stealing from it,” the policeman testified.
