Dubai: Two jailed for a year, fined Dh200,000 for online video throwing fake money at workers

KT file

Dubai - One of the accused admits to posting the footage to gain more Instagram followers

Published: Mon 13 Sep 2021, 3:45 AM

By
Afkar Ali Ahmed

A European and an Asian man have been jailed for one year and fined Dh200,000 each for throwing 50,000 euros worth of fake currency from his car window.

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The accused European posted a video on Instagram showing himself, accompanied by the second defendant, in a car showering workers carrying out their duties in Al Quoz with the counterfeit cash.

According to the investigation, the cybercrime patrols of Dubai police detected the video. Given the crowd of workers surrounding the defendants' car, authorities charged them with endangering the labourers' safety as well as flouting Covid-19 safety rules. Upon further inquiry, police also found out that the money was fake.

The European defendant told police that he had posted the video to his Instagram account to gain followers.

The two accused were referred to the Public Prosecution in Dubai and eventually the Criminal Court on charges of committing the felony of smuggling, possessing and circulating counterfeiting currency in the country.

The Criminal Court sentenced them to two years in prison. The term was reduced to one year by the Appeals Court.