Dubai: Manhunt on after one dead, two severely injured in bootleggers' brawl

The Dubai Public Prosecution is investigating the murder of a 36-year-old Indian man (identified as "Mukesh") after a fight broke out between two groups of bootleggers in the Al Tayy area.

According to police records, the force received a call about a brawl between Asian and African illegal liquor makers using broken bottles and traditional weapons on March 17.

Upon arrival, patrols and CID officers found Mukesh's dead body and two other severely injured Indians, one of whose right arm had been completely severed from the shoulder. The injured were transferred to Rashid Hospital, and the body was transferred to a forensic laboratory.

A search and investigations team found the first accused, a Nigerian man, in Dubai's Al Nahda. The team also arrested the second accused, another Nigerian, at his home in Sharjah with help from the Sharjah Police.

During the police interrogation, the first accused confessed that he came to the UAE five years ago and turned to bootlegging after receiving a low salary from the company he worked for.

He said that he, the second accused and another Nigerian had gone to Al Tayy not knowing that a group of Indian bootleggers already dominated the area. The Indian group came to them later that night and asked them to leave, and a fight broke out when the two groups refused to divide the area in half.

The first accused said he was injured in the brawl as well but was treated at a friend's apartment. He also said that his compatriots had assaulted the injured and the deceased.