Dubai policeman accused of stealing cash from an undercover cop, detainees

Picture used for illustrative purposes alone

A Dubai policeman working within a team that tracks bootleggers and infiltrators stood trial in the Court of First Instance.  He was allegedly caught stealing cash from another cop going undercover as a suspect.
The Yemeni officer, 24, was charged in the present case for stealing Dh100 from a fellow cop who was going undercover in a case related to bootlegging activities.
The accused denied the charge in court.
However, during interrogation the defendant admitted that he stole the money from the other cop adding that he had also stolen some cash from some detainees.
The case dates back to November last year and was reported to Al Muraqqabat police station.
"We were tipped -off that the accused would steal money from the workers who get arrested for bootlegging. So we planted two informants among the suspects to verify the information. And he stole from them. So we decided to take action against him," a police lieutenant said.
"We obtained a public prosecution warrant for a sting operation in order to catch the accused in the act.
We handed an undercover officer Dh655 and assigned the defendant to go together with other officers to the parking lot near a hotel in Oud Al Mutteena where the job was to apprehend workers involved in bootlegging".
Some suspects were later arrested and the accused was left with them in the police bus.
"At the General Directorate of Criminal Investigation the undercover officer found that his money was missing Dh 100.
 Several suspects were taken into custody. Among them was the undercover officer. He told us that the accused stole Dh 100 from him," the lieutenant told the prosecutor.
In his statement, the police officer pointed out the Dh100 was part of a Dh655 amount belonging to the police and had been handed to the undercover officer so that to catch some labourers red-handed engaging in bootlegging.
Prosecution records show that that money was recovered from the accused.
 The trial has been adjourned to January 29.
mary@khaleejtimes.com