Dubai: A Dubai visitor who created a Snapchat account and profiled himself as a prostitute, uploading his nude images, has been jailed for one year.

A lieutenant at Dubai Police’s Cybercrime section came across the man’s profile while on a cyber-patrol mission. The accused was promoting prostitution and sex services on Snapchat in June 2018.

Nicknaming the account ‘kisses967’, the profile owner had posted still and video images of pornographic nature, offering his services. The police identified the Snapchat account owner as a 22-year-old Moroccan visitor and issued an arrest warrant against him.

The man walked into the police station on his own and surrendered himself.

When confronted about his profile on the messaging app, the defendant said he had set up the Snapchat account, posted nude images and promoted prostitution with men.

Police seized the defendant’s Samsung phone, on which a number of indecent photos and videos, were found when forensic experts examined it.

The Dubai Court of First Instance convicted the defendant of abusing social media by creating an account to post pornographic images and offer sexual services. He was found guilty of having sex with men for money.

According to the primary ruling, presiding judge Mohammad Jamal said the defendant, who pleaded guilty, will be deported.

“I did that... but I worked in prostitution before June,” the man argued in court.

“The nude and pornographic images will be erased instantly and the devices used to post the images will be confiscated,” said presiding judge Jamal.

The cybercrime police lieutenant said he discovered the Snapchat account that promoted prostitution while carrying out a routine cyber-patrol. “After identifying the culprit, we circulated an arrest warrant. He surrendered himself the next morning at 10am. During questioning, he claimed that he profiled himself on Snapchat as a prostitute for men. He also uploaded images of his private parts. He further admitted that when he became unemployed, he decided to earn his living by having paid sex with men, for Dh1,000 to Dh1,500 per client. He also said that he lured several clients before he getting exposed and had paid sex with those clients,” the lieutenant told prosecutors.

The ruling remains subject to appeal.