Man loses appeal, gets 1-year jail for selling stolen face masks in Dubai

Dubai - The case was registered at Al Rafaa police station.

A warehouse keeper, who was caught red-handed in a sting operation by the Dubai Police while selling stolen boxes of face masks worth Dh8,400, has lost appeal against a one-year imprisonment term.

The Dubai Court of Appeals has upheld the one-year jail sentence and deportation order handed down by a lower court to the 43-year-old Indian defendant.

The accused was convicted by both courts of a robbery charge and ordered to pay a Dh8,400 fine.

Public prosecution records show that the robbery incidents took place over a span of time from May 31 to June 11. The case was registered at Al Rafaa police station.

The defendant was accused of intentionally damaging the interests of the (public) entity where he worked and embezzling of its property. He is under detention.

The defendant, who worked as a medical supplies warehouse keeper at the Dubai Health Authority (DHA), was reported to his supervisor by a Filipina after he had approached her to sell her the face masks.

“I am a co-owner of a medical supplies company. I didn’t know the defendant personally prior to the case. I just know he worked as a keeper at the DHA warehouses,” she recounted during the investigation.

She told the investigator that the defendant offered her 28 boxes of face masks for Dh8,400. “I told him I would think about it. I reported him and was told to make him believe I would take his offer. On June 11, I was given an amount of money (Dh8,400 that belonged to the police). The accused was caught red-handed right after meeting me and selling me the masks.”

The defendant’s direct supervisor said that the latter was entrusted with medical supplies and given a spare key of the warehouse. “He had been working as a warehouse keeper since September 2010. I was shocked he abused his job to rob 28 boxes of face masks, containing each 100 packets, worth Dh8,400.”

The defendant did not challenge the ruling at the Court of Cassation within the legal deadline.

mary@khaleejtimes.com

• Dubai