DUBAI // A baggage handler who claimed to have only looked inside a suitcase because he was looking for food was sentenced to three months in jail on a theft charge.
“I had been on shift for 10 straight hours and I was so hungry,” said B A, 23, a Pakistani at Dubai Criminal Court on Wednesday.
“I didn’t open any bags before but it’s only this time and I did so because I was starving and looking for anything to eat, especially that I still had two more hours before my shift ended.”
He told the court that he had been without work since he was arrested on this allegation on June 9 last year.
“I have been living here and there and borrowing money from people, please help me go back to work,” said B A.
Security officer R K, an Indian, said he witnessed B A opening a number of bags.
“I also saw a recording of someone opening the luggage of passengers but I couldn’t distinguish the man’s face in the recording,” he said.
Policeman A A, 34, said B A confessed that he had opened many bags, but he never found anything to steal.
salamir@thenational.ae
