Dubai: A Dubai airport employee who stole two mangoes from a cargo consignment to India was fined Dh5,000 given a suspended three-month prison sentence and deported, a Dubai court heard on Monday.
The 27-year-old Indian worker said he was thirsty and searching for water when he opened a fruit box and consumed two mangoes.
He was charged with stealing the fruits worth Dh6.
Records confirmed that he ate the fruits in August 2017, but it didn’t mention why he was only referred to court in 2019.
The defendant confessed that he was working at Dubai Airport Terminal 3 to load passengers’ luggage on to the conveyor belt when the incident occurred.
“I wanted some water and I opened a fruit box and found the mangoes. I ate two mangoes and left,” he said. “In April 2018, police summoned me and questioned me about the incident. They searched my home and didn’t find any stolen items,” he added.
According to Dubai Public Prosecution, a security guard in the airport was checking surveillance cameras when he saw the defendant opening bags belonging to passengers of an India-bound flight.
The man denied theft but was convicted, fined, handed a suspended sentence and ordered to be deported.
The defendant has 15 days to appeal the verdict within.
