Dubai: A jobless man has been accused of making a fake bomb at home and threatening to detonate it at a money exchange house when he tried to steal Dh5,500.

The 38-year-old British man was said to have wrapped a tissue box with a plastic tape to make it look like a bomb and then he threatened to blow it up in the exchange house if its Filipina manager did not give him Dh5,500 in November.

The Briton had walked into the exchange house and placed a piece of paper on which Dh5,500 was written on the counter, according to records. The Filipina manager stalled him for a while as she pressed the alarm system that is connected with Dubai Police’s operation room.

The man had already gone by the time the police arrived at the exchange house in Tecom area.

Primary interrogations led to the arrest of the 38-year-old.

Prosecutors accused the Briton of attempting to rob the exchange house and using a fake bomb to threaten the Filipina.

The suspect pleaded not guilty when he appeared before the Dubai Court of First Instance on Wednesday.

“I did not do that … No!” he told presiding judge Fahd Al Shamsi.

According to the accusation sheet, prosecutors said the defendant threatened to blow up the money exchange house using what he claimed to be a bomb and threatened the manager as he attempted to rob the place.

The Filipina told prosecutors that the Briton put the piece of paper on the counter first before he took out what he claimed to be a bomb.

“I pretended to be asking him about the numbers on the paper … I was actually stalling to press the alarm system and have the police come to the shop. After he took out that thing he claimed to be a bomb, I asked him what that was and he replied ‘it’s a bomb’. He threatened to use it if I didn’t give him the money. When I told him that he couldn’t do such a thing, he grabbed the purported bomb and walked away. Then the police came,” the Filipina testified to prosecutors.

A police lieutenant told prosecutors that the Filipina told them the fake bomb was wrapped with a black tape.

“She told us that the Briton left the place without taking any cash,” he told prosecutors.

The defendant was quoted as admitting to prosecutors that he was going through a dire financial situation when he decided to fake a bomb, threaten the exchange house staff and try to steal some cash.

A ruling will be heard later this month.