Seller of 'bullet-proof' stone pleads innocent

Dubai: A man is standing trial for trying to sell an allegedly bullet-proof onyx stone for Dh500 million at Global Village.

"I've been jailed, my wife is in a hotel and my three-year-old daughter has been mentally affected since my arrest ... she has become insane and has been putting her fingers in electric sockets and biting her nails because I am away ... Please! I didn't swindle or cheat anyone," the middle-aged Yemeni suspect, Q.M., told Dubai Court of Misdemeanours yesterday.

The Public Prosecution charged him with attempting to con the public by advertising the onyx stone for Dh500 million in a newspaper (not Gulf News). In the advertisement he claimed that anyone who wears the stone is protected against bullets.

The suspect said: "I am not a cheat. I had a stall at Global Village where I displayed precious stones, including the onyx. I asked the police to try the stone before confiscating it and arresting me. They refused. I brought it with me from Yemen."

His lawyer Saeed Al Ghailani said his client claimed that he tried the stone once on a sheep and it worked. "We will bring witnesses to corroborate his claims before the court when it reconvene next week," said the lawyer.