Prison warden denies accepting Dh2,000 bribe

Dubai: A police corporal has denied the charge of accepting Dh2,000 in a bribe to smuggle banned substances to an inmate at Dubai Central Prison, a court heard Thursday.

"No. Not at all… I didn't take anything for any reason," argued the Emirati police corporal when he defended himself before the Dubai Court of First Instance.

Prosecutors charged the 23-year-old defendant, M.S., with abusing his power as a warden at the Central Prison and collecting a bribe in order to smuggle a banned substance to an inmate, the nature of which was not identified in records.

The suspect vehemently refuted the charge and pleaded not guilty when he appeared before Presiding Judge Hamad Abdul Latif Abdul Jawad.

According to the charge sheet, the suspect accepted the money as a bribe to take a pouch from a driver and smuggle it to the inmate, identified as M.K.

An Emirati police major testified the suspect admitted in front of him that he met the inmate's driver who handed him the pouch.

"He smuggled the small pouch to the inmate for Dh2,000," claimed the major.

"He confessed to me that he took the pouch without knowing what substance it contained and smuggled it to M.K.," claimed an Emirati corporal who questioned the suspect.

Meanwhile, an Emirati first lieutenant claimed during public prosecution questioning: "M.S. assisted me in working at the Central Prison's control room… his duty entitled him to meet inmates but his job didn't require him to carry for them any personal objects or food. He wasn't allowed to bring the inmates anything from outside the prison."

Records said when prosecutors questioned the suspect, he admitted he took the bribe from M.K.'s driver and smuggled the pouch into the jail without knowing its contents.

The court reconvenes on January 14.