Dubai: A porter has been accused of opening passengers’ luggage and stealing cigarettes and sunglasses while transporting cargo to and from aeroplanes.
The 24-year-old Nepalese porter was said to have unzipped a number of luggage items at the conveyor belt and stolen sunglasses and cigarettes during several occasions in August.
Airport police busted the porter during a random inspection when they found him to be carrying a packet of cigarettes in his pocket.
Prosecutors charged the Nepalese with stealing passengers’ belongings.
The suspect pleaded not guilty and refuted his accusations when he appeared before the Dubai Court of First Instance on Wednesday.
“I did not steal anything and I did not open any bag … I found the sunglasses on the conveyor belt,” said the 24-year-old as he defended himself before presiding judge Fahd Al Shamsi.
“What about the cigarettes? Why were they in your pocket?” the presiding judge asked him.
“One of the bags was open and I found them beside it on the belt,” the suspect replied.
A policeman claimed to prosecutors that they were doing a random check when they discovered that the porter had been stealing from luggage at the conveyor belt.
“I found a packet of cigarettes that was hidden in his pocket. When I asked him where he got it from, he alleged that he found it while transporting the cargo from a plane to the conveyor belt. Thereafter we searched his residence and found three pairs of sunglasses that he claimed to have taken from passengers’ luggage. He alleged that he opened the bags on different occasions and took the sunglasses for himself,” the policeman testified to prosecutors.
Presiding judge Al Shamsi will hand out a ruling on November 27.