Asian, accused of stealing rental car, acquitted

The Dubai Court of Appeal acquitted an Asian man, who was accused of stealing a rental car.

According to police reports, on June 29, A. S. K., a salesman at a car rental company in Dubai, alerted police that a Toyota Land Cruiser had been hired and never returned.

M. A. S., a Pakistani national, had rented the vehicle a month earlier at the rate of Dh500 a day.
The police sent out an alert and the man was arrested and sent to the Dubai Criminal Investigation Department. The accused denied the charges.

According to court reports, the man said the salesman had called him and told him to rent the car and drive the vehicle for a Russian for Dh200 a day.

He said he signed the contract and left his passport with the salesman.

The Russian asked the man to drive him to Sharjah, then to Ajman, to Abu Dhabi and finally to Al Ain.

In Al Ain, the Russian met another of his countrymen at a hotel, after which he asked the driver to take him back to Dubai.

On the way back, as the driver stopped the car at a shop to buy a mobile charger, the Russians drove away without him. The driver reported it to both Al Ain and Abu Dhabi police.

The salesman said that the Pakistani driver called him three hours after the return time of the vehicle and told him that the car had ran out of fuel.

He said the driver told him he needed money for gas. The salesman told him to wait in Al Ain and he would come with the money.

But the driver called five minutes later and told him that he had left the car to buy a mobile phone charger and the Russians had stolen the vehicle.

The lower court had sentenced the driver to one year in prison, but the higher court found that the driver did not have any motive to steal the car, as it was the salesman who had asked him to rent it.