Dubai: Two men have each been sentenced to a year in jail for misusing a lost Emirates ID card to get a credit card and purchase 14 mobile phones.
The card, that was found by the duo — a Tunisian manager, M.Z., and an Egyptian salesman, A.F. at a phone shop — belongs to a British man.
The accused bought the 14 phones worth nearly Dh31,000 from an Axiom store, a phone retailer in the UAE. A.F. was an employee at the store.
The Dubai Court of First Instance sentenced the defendants in absentia after they missed one of the hearings.
“The credit card will be confiscated and the accused will be deported following the completion of their jail terms,” said presiding judge Urfan Omar.
According to Monday’s ruling, the court referred the civil lawsuit lodged against the defendants to the Dubai Civil Court.
Prosecutors accused the duo of using an official document (Emirates ID) that belonged to someone else to get a credit card. They were also accused of deceiving Axiom staff in buying the phones and forging signatures on the purchase receipts.
M.Z. had earlier said in court, “I did not find the ID card or use it. I did not forge any signature or use any credit card.”
The Briton said he lost his Emirates ID card in April 2010 and a replacement was issued by the Emirates ID Authority.
“The Emirates ID Authority informed me that there was no need to tell the police that I had lost my card,” he said.
His wife said that they received an SMS from the bank informing them that their credit card had been used at Dubai Marina Mall.
“The last time we used our credit card was in August 2012 at Mirdif City Centre. We did not make any purchases at Marina Mall. We realised that someone had been using our credit card illegally. Immediately we asked the bank to freeze our cards. We were informed that the purchases were made at Axiom and Areej,” she said.
The British couple informed the police immediately after that.
Meanwhile, an Indian shop supervisor said M.Z. came to his shop in Naif and sold him new phones from Axiom.
“The suspect presented a receipt confirming that he had bought a BlackBerry from Axiom. I purchased a BlackBerry Phone and an iPhone 4s from him on August 25, 2012. He returned again in September and sold me two phones. I checked only one receipt and its serial number. When I asked M.Z. why he was selling the phones, he told me he needed money. I also took a photocopy of his Emirates ID,” said the supervisor.
An Emirati policeman said surveillance cameras revealed that A.F. worked at the Axiom branch. Monday’s ruling remains subject to appeal within 15 days.
