Dubai: A male cabin crew was sentenced to six months in jail and fined Dh150,000 for illegally accessing banned websites that contain child pornographic material and downloading that material.

Dubai Police’s cybercrime officers busted the 30-year-old Polish cabin crew after they discovered that he had accessed banned websites that contain child porn material during a random online surveillance in May.

The Dubai Misdemeanours Court convicted the defendant of saving files of child pornographic content and sharing some of those files through special programs on the internet.

The accused had pleaded not guilty.

The court also decided to confiscate the devices that the accused had used to access the indecent websites. Police identified him through the IP address through etisalat.

Prosecutors said the defendant breached the cybercrime law and intentionally possessed children’s pornographic material through the internet.

According to the primary ruling, the defendant will be deported following the completion of his punishment.

The defendant’s lawyer argued in court that law enforcement procedures were carried out improperly and unlawfully against his client.

Online surveillance of the cybercrime policemen revealed, according to court records, that the accused had accessed the child pornographic websites between May 28 and June 1.

The defendant had circulated a number of files [of child pornographic content] on a special program that enables its users to share files online, according to records,

The accused was detained at Dubai International Airport before he travelled to Thailand.

When questioned by the police, the defendant admitted that he used three keywords [13 years, teen sex and porn] while surfing the internet.

He was quoted confessing that he had saved files of indecent material for his personal pleasure.

Meanwhile the defendant was quoted admitting to prosecutors that he saved the files without sharing them with anyone.

His lawyer contended in court that his client is a non-Muslim and a non-Emirati and hails from a country where the act he had committed is not incriminated by law.

The evidence produced against the defendant was not substantiated enough to decisively confirm that his actions had been committed inside the UAE, argued the lawyer.

“Law enforcement officers did not obtain a proper search and arrest warrant from prosecutors to detain my client. His confession before police and prosecutors was obtained under coercion. The suspect did not have any criminal intention,” argued the lawyer.

Court records show that the Polish defendant has appealed the primary sentence and is seeking to acquit himself before the Dubai Appeal Court when it convenes later this month.