DUBAI // A 25-year-old traffic policeman jailed for two years for hunting down more than 70 dumped cars then using forged documents to sell them on will only serve three months.
Dubai Court of Appeal reduced the sentence of Emirati policeman HS, who had abused his position at the traffic records section at Jebel Ali police station for his own financial gain.
He had amended the abandoned cars’ ownership data, got their locks changed and then sold them.
At criminal and appeal courts, the Emirati had denied charges of abusing his position by accessing the data of 79 cars and forging official documents by changing the owners’ details to make the cars owned by Dubai Police. He also denied use of forged ownership documents to get the cars’ locks changed and then sell them on for profit.
Accomplices H E, 22, who holds a Comoros Islands passport, and unemployed Saudi S K, 25, were found guilty of aiding and abetting and were also sentenced to two years, to be followed by deportation, but they did not appeal.
Prosecutors said that H S roamed in Dubai streets between 2010 and 2011 looking for dusty and abandoned cars. The stolen car would then be sold as spare parts or as a whole but for very cheap prices.
Prosecution records said the Emirati came forward and confessed to his crimes because he felt guilty and could not sleep at night for more than a year. In the confession, H S said he would hand the cars to the other two, who would sell them in Sharjah.
salamir@thenational.ae
