Man fined Dhs50,000 over bootlegging

Amir Al Sonny, Staff Reporter

The Court of Misdemeanours in Fujairah slapped an African man with a fine of Dhs50,000 over a bootlegging charge.

The case dates back to the time when the police arrested and interrogated three people who were intoxicated. They confessed that they had purchased alcohol from the defendant.

The defendant’s apartment was raided, where a quantity of alcoholic drinks were seized. He was arrested and transferred to the Public Prosecution.

The Court also adjourned five cases of alcohol abuse without authorization to a subsequent session, in which a number of Asian persons were involved. They were arrested in a state of drunkenness.

In a recent case, a man caught hawking alcohol in a car bearing stolen number plates was indicted 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.”