DUBAI // An inmate serving a four-year sentence for trying to bribe a police officer with tramadol pills has appeared in court charged with starting a fire in his prison cell.
Prosecutors said Emirati M B, 28, set light to a blanket in his cell at the central prison in April this year.
The blaze damaged the cell and its contents.
Police officer S S said he rushed to put out the fire.
“M B was sitting while the blanket was on fire, he didn’t move or anything, I used a fire extinguisher to put out the fire,” said S S, 23.
He told prosecutors the fire might have been started using a battery.
“Inmates are allowed to buy batteries from the prison canteen.”
M B was sentenced to four years in jail and fined Dh1,000 in January this year for consumption of tramadol and offering a police officer the pills as a bribe while being held at Al Rashidiya police station.
In April last year, he was sentenced to a year in jail and a Dh20,000 fine for possession of 5,000 tramadol pills with the intent to sell.
M B did not appear at Dubai Criminal Court on Wednesday to enter a plea to a charge of setting fire to the cell and destroying the property.
The next hearing was set for July 1.
tzriqat@thenational.ae
