Bootlegger arraigned for beating lieutenant

Hamza M Sengendo, Staff Reporter

A man caught hawking alcohol in a car bearing stolen number plates was indicted on Thursday for beating up a police lieutenant dispatched to arrest him.

The unemployed African defendant, 25, battered the chest and arms of the Emirati lieutenant, 25, at a Dubai street and left him with bruises on both arms and pain in his right thumb on March 6.

He and two fugitive men had 32 bottles and 30 cans of alcoholic drinks they were about to sell to possible clients. They stole four number plates from two cars of an Indian businessman in Al Qusais.

They fixed two on their getaway car and started fetching alcohol from dealers in Ajman and Ras Al Khaimah and selling it to consumers in Dubai. He confessed before police and prosecutors. Hearing continues.

On the record, the Indian businessman complained to Al Qusais Police Station about the theft of number plates. A source alerted the police that two plates were fixed on a car used for bootlegging activities.

The source revealed the car frequented Naif area for alcohol sales on a daily basis between evening and midnight before leaving Dubai via a junction in Nahdah. Police lurked in wait near the junction.

The lieutenant said, “At around 1am we saw the defendant driving the car with another person (the mastermind) in the front passenger seat and another man (an accomplice) in the rear seat. We pursued it.

“It stopped on the roadside. The mastermind stepped out and ran away after suspecting we were CID officers. We hurried to the car. The other man also jumped out, threw a liquor bottle and a phone and fled.”

The defendant tried to get out but the lieutenant had already reached him. He returned inside, shut the door and tried to speed off. A police car blocked his way. He tried to climb a pavement and drive away but failed.

The lieutenant opened the door while the defendant shut it. He kept assaulting and pushing the lieutenant. The lieutenant seized and dragged him out following stiff resistance. Other cops helped subdue him.

An Emirati policeman said, “The accomplice who jumped out of the rear seat hurled an open liquor bottle towards us then fled. The defendant upon arrest said they used to make Dhs200 to Dhs300 proceeds daily, of which the mastermind paid him Dhs50.”

The lieutenant added, “The defendant told me he obtained the car from the mastermind. He claimed he did not know how and where the mastermind obtained stole number plates fixed on it.”