Dubai policeman jailed for detaining a shop owner and extorting money

Officer was intervening in a financial dispute between his friend and the shop owner but abused his power in the process.

DUBAI // A police officer was jailed for three months on Sunday for abusing his position by detaining a man and threatening to keep him imprisoned if he did not write a cheque for Dh105,000.

The 25-year-old Saudi policeman, who worked at Al Qusais Police Station, was convicted alongside his Indian friend, 22.

A shop owner was selling his premises and the friend and his father paid Dh105,000 as a first instalment before changing their minds and demanding their money back.

“I informed them that I had used the cash but once I sold the shop I would repay them,” the Indian shop owner said.

A week later the shop owner received a call from the policeman, who accused him of leaving the scene of an accident and told him to report to the police station where he was locked in a cell.

While being held, he said, the policeman “told me I could call a friend to bring me my chequebook and write him a cheque”. He was then forced to sign a cheque.

The next day he told another officer about his detention and was advised to make a complaint aginst the man who arrested him. The officer was convicted of detaining a person and extorting money, while the Indian friend was guilty of aiding and abetting.

Both men were sentenced to three months in jail.