2 impersonators get jail for robbery

Dubai: Two men have been jailed for two years each after a court convicted them of posing as policemen and attacking two gamblers and stealing from them Dh11,000 and mobile phones.

The Dubai Court of First Instance convicted the two Egyptian defendants, M.F. and T.M., of impersonation, assault and theft.

Prosecutors had accused the Egyptian defendants and five Pakistani workers, aged between 23 and 40, of forming a gang, posing as policemen and threatening two Pakistani men — a businessman and fish vendor — with sharp tools before robbing them.

Pronouncing Monday's verdict, Presiding Judge Hamad Abdul Latif Abdul Jawad acquitted the Pakistani men for lack of corroborated evidence.

"M.F. and T.M. will be deported after serving their punishments," said the judge.

When the five Pakistanis appeared in court, they pleaded innocent and claimed that they did not steal but they had a fight with the businessman and fish vendor during a gambling game.

"We are not guilty. We were all gambling. We had a fight with the claimants… the money that we took is what we won. We did not steal," one of the acquitted Pakistanis, 32-year-old O.N., earlier told the court.

Friends

Meanwhile 28-year-old N.H. contended that they did not steal. He claimed that they are friends with the claimants [businessman and the fish vendor] and roommates.

"We did not impersonate any police personnel or threaten them with any weapon. We did not steal… it was a fight," N.H. defended in court.

One of the suspects told the court that they did not steal but took the money that they won during gambling.

The Egyptians also pleaded not guilty.

A Sudanese policeman claimed that the victims chased the suspects and apprehended T.M. but the others escaped. Police arrested them later.

The judgment remains subject to appeal within 15 days.