Accused rammed police cars in escape attempt

Dubai: Two men being tried for attempting to rob a pharmacy in February tried to escape when surrounded by ramming their vehicle against a police car, endangering the personnel on duty, the Dubai Court of First Instance heard yesterday.

The two defendants are a Pakistani national, 24, and a Sudanese, 19, both of whose names were not given.

Prosecution records alleged that the two broke into a pharmacy in Dubai's Karama area at night to steal drugs. An Egyptian pharmacist working in the establishment told prosecutors he received a call at 5.30am on February 26 about the pharmacy, part of a well-known chain, being robbed.

Arriving quickly at the pharmacy he saw the glass door shattered and medicines on the floor, while a box containing restricted psychotropic drugs was missing. It was found later on the road opposite the pharmacy.

A policeman testified that while he was patrolling the area at 3am he saw the defendants trying to load a big box into their car. When they saw the police car, they panicked, dropped the box on the road and drove away.

Car chase

Police gave chase and repeated calls for them to stop fell on deaf ears while they drove recklessly in their attempt to flee, it was alleged. Finally two police patrol cars managed to corner them.

The defendants, however, allegedly rammed their rented Toyota Corolla into the police cars to move them out of the way in order to escape, damaging them and endangering the lives of the policemen inside.

However, their attempt was unsuccessful and they were nabbed.

Police found a plastic bag containing white pills, two pill boxes, a knife and an axe in the defendants' car. They found another bag near the car, which one of the defendants had thrown out before being caught.

The big box the defendants were trying to load in their car was found 15 metres away from the pharmacy.

The Pakistani defendant confessed in court to damaging public property, while the Sudanese denied the theft charges and admitted that he had taken psychotropic substances.

The case has been adjourned until July 27.