Two policemen jailed for swindling workers

The Court of First Instance sentenced two Dubai Police officers to one-year imprisonment each, for swindling money and phone credits from workers while on duty. The court panel, presided by Judge Fahmi Mounir Fahmi, also ordered the two Emirati officers, including a corporal, 28, and a policeman with a low rank, 24, to pay a joint fine of Dh1,531 and pay back the same amount. The verdict can be appealed within 15 days at the Court of Appeal. The cops faced charges of intimidating labourers to embezzle mobile credits worth Dh430 and Dh1,100 in cash while on traffic patrol last December, Khaleej Times reported. Lodging the complaint with the police at Bur Dubai police station, the two workers informed that one of the policemen intercepted them near a mall on Al Khail Road. The policeman said he was a CID officer and showed his military card. He asked them to accompany him to the police patrol car. The policeman allegedly drove them to an area in Al Quoz and took their cash after transferring credit from their phones, despite pleas by the victims that they are poor. An Emirati police major said they summoned the two defendants after receiving a complaint. The workers had noted down the registration number of the police patrol car and handed it to the major at the police station. When investigated it was found the car was with the two alleged officers at that time. The two victims were then made to identify the accused officers through an identification parade when a number of officers were line up in front of them, the workers recognised the accused accurately.