Police officer charged with retaining porn movies

Dubai : A police corporal has been accused of misappropriating 266 pornographic movies that he had confiscated from illegal workers during random inspections.

Prosecutors accused the 23-year-old Emirati corporal, M.A., of abusing his public position, misappropriating DVDs confiscated from illegal workers and demanding Dh3,000 in bribe from a Pakistani trucker.

"No, I did not abuse office or request any bribe. The movies were not confiscated," M.A. argued when he defended himself before the Dubai Court of First Instance.

According to the arraignment sheet, the defendant is said to have abused his office and asked the trucker to pay him a Dh3,000 bribe to cancel a traffic fine.

The records show M.A. had booked the driver because his truck was leaking diesel on Emirates Road.

Prosecutors also charged the suspect with misappropriating, for his own benefit, 266 DVDs with pornographic content. The suspect confiscated the movies from illegal workers, whom he had intercepted during random inspections in Jebel Ali.

An Emirati policeman testified that an informant had notified him that the defendant was involved in illegal practices beyond his working shifts.

"My supervisor alerted me that the defendant was reportedly involved in stopping Indian and Pakistani pick-up drivers, then issuing them traffic fines. He would contact them later and collect the fines in person … then he would pocket the fines himself without recording them in the traffic system."

The trial continues.