Photo has been used for illustrative purpose.

Mohammed Yaseen, Staff Reporter

The Dubai Court of Appeal commuted the verdict issued by the Court of First Instance against two GCC citizens from 3 years in prison to one year with a fine of Dhs8,200 over robbing an Asian under duress and using his bankcard for shopping.

The details of the case date back to December 2020, when an Asian man reported that he had been robbed at knifepoint by two persons. The plaintiff stated that one of those two walked to his vehicle while he was stopping in the canal area and asked him to open the door, but he refused and got off to talk to him about the reason for his request. However, the other one came, threatened him at a knifepoint and then punched him. The first then opened the vehicle and stole the man’s wallet that was containing cash money, bankcard and official documents, before both of them fled the scene in their vehicle.

An investigation team was able to identify the burglars through footage of surveillance cameras of a petrol station, where they tried to use the victim’s bankcard in a retail store at a fuel station. They were located and arrested.

In interrogation, the two suspects, who had a friendship, admitted that they had committed the crime in complicity with each other. They were roaming the streets by car of father of one of them near the Dubai Water Canal, before they stopped and robbed the victim at a knifepoint. They were referred to Public Prosecution in Dubai and then to the Court, where they were sentenced to 3-year-jail term, which was commuted to one year by the Court of Appeal.

Separately, the Dubai Misdemeanours Court fined an Arab engineer Dhs5,000 on charges of using a drone and photographing several areas in Dubai without obtaining the necessary permits from the competent authorities. The court ordered the confiscation of the drone.

Details date back to November 2021 when the convict was seized while he was running a drone in Al Qusais area in Dubai.

By checking his ID, it turned out that he was an engineer working for a company for installing solar panels and water desalination.