Dubai: An 18-year-old student has been jailed for six months for impersonating a policeman, dragging an accountant out of his vehicle, tying him up inside a minivan and stealing Dh42,000 from him.
The Indian accountant was heading to a bank to deposit his company’s money, when the Iraqi student and another person, who remains at large, robbed him in January.
The Dubai Court of First Instance convicted the student of posing as a policeman near the Fish Market, pulling the accountant by his shirt and forcing him into a minivan that the accomplice was driving.
He was also found guilty of tying up the accountant’s hands with plastic handcuffs and taking the money from his pocket before throwing him out of the minivan in Al Hamriya area.
According to the primary ruling, the defendant was handed a lenient punishment due to his young age.
The accused, who pleaded not guilty, will be deported following the completion of his jail term.
The Indian said the incident happened on a Saturday morning when he was heading to a bank to deposit the money.
“I kept the money in my pocket and left in the company’s vehicle. When I reached the Fish Market, a person stopped me and asked me to help him move his cart to the other side of the pavement. I helped him and the defendant stopped me while I was walking back to my vehicle. He claimed to be a policeman and asked for my identification papers. I gave him my papers before he grabbed me by my shirt and pulled me towards a minivan. When I asked him where he was taking me, he told me he was taking me to the police station. He forced me into the minivan and tied my hands and legs with plastic handcuffs. Then he searched me and took the money from my pocket. When I told him to give me back the money, he said that I could take it back at the police station. When I asked him to show me his police ID, he slapped me. The absconder was driving while another man was sitting in the minivan. They cut the plastic cuff on my legs and dropped me off in Al Hamriya, when they drove away I memorised the letter and first number of the vehicle’s number plate. I reported the matter to the police after a pedestrian helped me to cut the handcuffs. A month later I was informed by the police that they had identified one of the defendants and they summoned me to the police station where I identified him in the police line-up,” the accountant said.
A police lieutenant said the Iraqi accused was identified following his arrest for another theft that was carried out using a similar modus operandi.
The student has already appealed the primary ruling and is scheduled to appear before the Appeal Court later this month.
