UPDATE: Five jailed over Dubai Marina yacht sex parties
DUBAI // A group of 28 men and women, including police officers and army personnel, were arrested on board a yacht after throwing sex and alcohol parties, a court was told.
Dubai Police’s Criminal Investigations Department said it received information about a number of policemen who organised parties for the express purpose of having paid sex and consuming alcohol with men and women of different nationalities, records stated.
An investigation found that the group had rented a yacht in Dubai Marina on October 10 last year to stage a party.
The yacht was placed under surveillance until an arrest warrant was obtained from prosecutors, the arrest report said, and a raid was staged at 6am, as it was docking at the marina.
Everyone on board was drunk and taken into custody for criminal laboratory testing.
The yacht was searched and 101 bottles of alcohol were seized, as well as a number of sheets and blankets, all of which was referred to the criminal lab.
The alcohol seized included vodka, beer and whisky.
Of those arrested, 15 were men aged between 21 and 43, of whom 11 were Emirati, two Iranian and two from the Comoros Islands. Four of them were policemen and three army personnel.
The 13 women apprehended were aged between 20 and 36, with all of them being Emirati, except for one Saudi, one Omani, one Yemeni and two Moroccans.
One Emirati man, MA, 43, was dressed as a woman and was wearing make-up at the time of arrest.
Emirati Corporal BL, 31, testified in prosecution investigations that she arrested and searched the women.
“They were all dressed in revealing clothes and the men were in shorts and they were all drunk,” said BL, who added that when questioning the women about their reason for being on the yacht, some of them told her they came to attend a friend’s birthday party and denied being there to have sex. She said two of the women were sisters.
“We searched the kitchen and four rooms of the yacht and found many bottles of alcohol,” said BL.
Emirati HH, 25, from the CID anti-corruption section, testified that one of the men was wearing make-up while most of the women were in bathing suits.
“We found out that the one who organised the party was AE, 31, a policeman, while the women were brought to the yacht by female defendant KA, 25, an Omani housewife,” said HH.
He said that most of the men were related and some of the women were friends.
Prosecutors charged all 28 with committing an act that may lure to commit sin, the act being gathering on a yacht without being related.
Two men and two women were charged with having consensual sex outside wedlock.
Nine of the group were charged with consuming alcohol without a licence, while the party organiser was charged with possessing the 101 bottles of alcohol to provide to others.
At Dubai Court of Misdemeanours last month, some pleaded not guilty and one of the women fainted.
The next hearing is on April 5 for a verdict to be issued.
salamir@thenational.ae
