Dubai: A policewoman has been jailed for three months for stealing Dh2,000 in cash from a wallet left behind by a passenger at Dubai International Airport.
The 28-year-old policewoman, E.S., was stationed at the airport when she took the money from a bag that had been kept in a lost and found box in August.
Despite having pleaded not guilty, E.S. was also fined Dh2,000 by the Dubai Court of First Instance on Wednesday.
The defendant abused her job at the police force and took the money from a passenger’s wallet that was kept in the lost and found box.
A police corporal testified that an informant cautioned them that the defendant had been spotted taking money from a wallet from the box of lost and found items.
“The defendant was apprehended at the departure hall at Terminal 3. We checked the surveillance cameras and the footage showed E.S. taking the money from the box and hiding it. When she was questioned, E.S. confessed that she had stolen the money from the passenger’s wallet in the box. She said she took US dollars and changed the currency to dirhams at the money exchange at the airport. When she claimed that the money was in her car, we obtained prosecutors’ permission to search her car. We did not find the money in her car. Then she claimed that she gave the money to her friend, who wired it back to her to the same exchange house at the airport. Then she was taken into custody,” said the corporal.
The accused was cited telling prosecutors that she had taken the money.
The primary ruling remains subject to appeal within 15 days.
