Bootlegger punished for beating lieutenant

Hamza M Sengendo, Staff Reporter

A man caught hawking alcohol in a car bearing stolen number plates beat up a police lieutenant. He will spend 21 months in jail, a jury ruled on Monday.

The unemployed African defendant, 25, and two fugitive men had 32 bottles and 30 cans of alcoholic drinks for sale. They stole four number plates from two cars of an Indian businessman in Al Qusais. They fixed two of them on their getaway car and started fetching alcohol from dealers in Ajman and Ras Al Khaimah and selling it to consumers in Dubai. Police dispatched a team to intercept them on March 6.

He 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. He confessed during police and prosecution interrogations.

The Dubai Criminal Court jailed him for one year over assault on an on-duty police officer, six months for stealing number plates and three for having alcohol. He will be deported after serving the terms. In prosecution records, a source alerted the police that the two stolen number plates were fixed on a car that bootleggers were using to peddle alcohol.

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 jumped out, threw a liquor bottle and a phone and ran away.”

The defendant tried to run away but the lieutenant stopped 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 off but failed. The lieutenant opened the door while the defendant shut it. He kept assaulting and pushing him. The lieutenant dragged him out of the car following stiff resistance. Other policemen helped subdue him.

An Emirati policeman testified, “The accomplice hurled an open liquor bottle towards us then fled. The defendant revealed they used to make Dhs200 to Dhs300 daily, of which he received a Dhs50 cut.”