Officers caged for robbing banana hawker

Hamza M Sengendo, Staff Reporter

Two law enforcement officers who arrested an illegal hawker then robbed him will spend six months in the dock, a jury ruled on Sunday.

The Arab officer, 26, and his colleague, 25, picked the Bangladeshi labourer, 41, from a street on Oct.3.2018, took him to an inhabited area and restrained him using metallic cuffs on grounds they wanted to frisk him.

This instilled fear in him. The officer handed his wallet to the colleague under the guise of wanting to remove his identification document and examine his status. They instead stole his Dhs3, 380, the labourer complained.

During an identity parade, the labourer recognised the officer. The Dubai Criminal Court sentenced both defendants to six months in the dock. It ordered that the officer be deported after serving the prison term.

In police and prosecution records, the labourer narrated that he was hawking bananas at a place in Jebel Ali when a security patrol arrived. A

 man in the passenger seat stepped out asking him about the price of bananas.

“Before I could explain to him, he seized me without even asking me for my identification document,” he explained, adding that the man took him inside the patrol vehicle and its driver sped off to a remote area.

“There, the driver (the officer) ordered me to get out. He handcuffed me. He grabbed my wallet and handed it to the passenger (the colleague) who removed my visa, examined it and discovered it had already expired.

“Upon this he told me that I had fines to the tune of Dhs20, 000. I dismissed the fines claim and told him I was still working for my sponsor,” the labourer said.

The officer placed the wallet back inside the labourer’s pocket.

“He told me to leave and never disclose the incident to anyone. They drove away. I checked my wallet and realised my Dhs3, 380 was missing.” He discovered the duo robbed him. He went to the Jebel Ali Police Station.