Court calls on experts to decide whether onyx stone is bulletproof

Dubai: An expert is to decide later this month whether an onyx stone is bulletproof and worth Dh1.8 billion.

Yemeni precious gem dealer, Q.M., was sentenced to six months in jail for trying to con the public after making the claim about the stone, he was granted bail yesterday.

Lawyer Saeed Al Ghailani, of Saeed Al Ghailani Advocates and Legal Consultants, told Gulf News on Tuesday that the judge's decision to bail his client, Q.M. "was a major twist in the course of the lawsuit."

The Dubai Court of Appeal on Tuesday decided to refer the stone to the Dubai Metals and Commodities Centre where an expert will decide its actual value.

The court said the expert will have to hand in a technical report after examining the stone on April 14.

The Court of Appeal earlier approved the assigning of an expert from Dubai police's criminal laboratory to examine the stone and assess its value to decide whether it contained any special characteristics which made it bulletproof. However, the police did not have the necessary equipment to carry out the mission, so the court has referred it to the Metals and Commodities Centre.

The Public Prosecution charged Q.M., with trying to con people by placing a newspaper advertisement in which he promoted the bulletproof onyx stone for Dh1.8 billion.

Al Ghailani earlier asked the judge to assign a physics expert or Dubai police's criminal laboratory to test the stone and decide whether it contains any electromagnetic powers which diverts the bullet before it hits the wearer.

"I am ready to face a death sentence if that's what will take me to prove that the stone is without doubt bulletproof... I didn't con anybody out of money, but the police tricked me and filed a malicious case against me," Q.M. told the court earlier.

The court said the expert will have to hand in a technical report after examining the stone on April 14.