Bootlegger punished for burning rival’s truck

Hamza M. Sengendo, Staff reporter

A builder part-timing as a bootlegger burnt a truck used by his rival to store alcohol. He was on Tuesday imprisoned for three months and fined Dhs65, 000.

The Asian defendant, 26, gathered carton boxes, set them on fire and placed them under the fuel tank of the truck parked inside a sandy area in the Dubai International City on Dec.21. It got gutted in flames. He also set a nearby car ablaze.

The Dhs5,500 car burst into flames in an incident saw that the fire spreading to two more cars -each worth Dhs30,000. Firefighters and police were called to extinguish it. The Criminal Court ordered he be deported after serving the punishments.

On the record, police were alerted about the fire in the sandy area. Investigations revealed the defendant was behind the arson. An Emirati lieutenant, 39, said the defendant confessed to have deliberately started the fire in the truck and car. “He told me he fetched and torched boxes under the fuel tanks of both vehicles.

“He contended that he was dealing in alcohol in the sandy area. A competition wrangle broke out between him and a rival bootlegger who chased him away. He decided to take revenge by setting his truck of fire. He said the truck was being used as a storage facility for the rival’s alcohol.”

An Emirati sergeant, 24, gave a similar narration. The defendant did not tell the reason he also set the saloon car of fire. The car owner –a Pakistani motorist, 53- complained that he had gone his away when Rashidiyah Police Station personnel contacted to tell him his car was on fire.

A Nepalese public relations agent, 28, said he parked his employer’s car in the Greek Cluster and went home. He returned around 5am the next day and found it was burnt. An Indian employee, 41, said he arrived at 3am and found firefighters extinguishing a fire that targeted his car.