Visitor released 9 months after buying stolen phone

Dubai

A visitor was released on Thursday from custody following nine months in detention for possessing a phone that he claimed to have bought not knowing that it was stolen.

The 27-year-old Nigerian visitor, S.V., told the Dubai Court of First Instance that he had purchased the phone and denied the charge of possessing a stolen item.

Two Pakistani workers, 26-year-old M.S. and 23-year-old Z.S., were said to have used a hammer to break a car window and steal an Indian driver’s bag that contained two mobiles and Dh2,000 in January.

Prosecutors accused M.S. and Z.S. of stealing and accused S.V. of possessing one of the stolen phones.

“I did not steal the phone or possess … I bought it from M.S. I was not aware that it was stolen,” S.V. argued before presiding judge Ezzat Mansour.

“When you purchased the phone, did they give you a receipt? Or did they show you the phone’s original receipt?” presiding judge Mansour asked the suspect.

“Sir the mobile phone was second-hand when I bought it. I didn’t buy it from a shop,” replied the Nigerian suspect.

When asked since about his custody, S.V. told presiding judge Mansour: “I have been in detention since more than nine months.”

Prior to that, the Pakistani defendants pleaded guilty and admitted that they broke the car window and stole the bag.

“Are you detained for being involved in another criminal case?” the judge asked S.V.

“No sir. I am only detained because I possessed that phone. And I have been in jail since nine months,” he replied.

Following quick discussion with his deputy judges, presiding judge Mansour said: “The court has decided to release S.V. without any bail or conditions. He will walk out of detention immediately.”

The Indian driver claimed to prosecutors he discovered that his bag had been robbed from his car while he was away praying at a mosque in Jumeirah.

A police lieutenant testified to prosecutors the Pakistani suspects were arrested in a sting operation after primary investigations exposed their involvement in a series of similar car thefts.

A ruling on their case will be heard on December 31.