Dubai: A porter has been jailed for three months for stealing sunglasses and wristwatches from passengers’ bags while transferring luggage from planes at Dubai International Airport.
The 24-year-old Nepalese porter opened several items of luggage and stole seven sunglasses and two wristwatches that he hid at his house before police recovered them during a raid in February.
Police raided the porter’s house following a tip-off by an informant that he had been pilfering items from luggage while transporting them to and from planes, said records.
The Dubai Court of First Instance convicted the 24-year-old of abusing his job at the airport as he used to open passengers’ luggage while transporting them between the terminal’s cargo area and planes and stealing seven sunglasses worth Dh170 and two wristwatches worth Dh580.
The presiding judge fined the defendant Dh750.
He pleaded not guilty in court.
A police corporal said one of the undercover agents at the airport notified them that the defendant had been removing items from passengers’ luggage.
“We summoned the accused for questioning, during which he admitted that he had opened several [items of] luggage and took sunglasses when he worked at Sharjah airport. Then he changed his confession and claimed that he took them from luggage at Dubai International Airport’s Terminal 1. We obtained a written approval from him to search his residence. We searched his room and found the sunglasses and wristwatches hidden in a black bag; he instantly admitted that they were stolen from luggage,” testified the corporal.
The primary ruling remains subject to appeal within 12 days.
