Bootlegger tried to escape from then bribe police, Dubai court hears

After being asked to open the boot of his car, the driver got out and ran into the desert but was caught.

DUBAI// A man caught trying to smuggle 52 boxes of alcohol in the boot of his car, ran from police into the desert before offering the arresting officers the bottles as a bribe, Dubai Criminal Court heard.

A police patrol pulled over a suspicious car on Emirates Road in October. Officers asked the Pakistani driver, M A, 29, for his papers and requested he open up the car’s boot.

“He told us that he had just received a phone call informing him his mother had passed away and that he was in a hurry,” said Emirati policeman M B, 21.

M B said the driver kept repeating himself instead of opening the boot. When he finally did, he got out of the car and fled into the desert.

“As we saw the alcohol, he started running towards the desert and I chased him while my colleague took the patrol car and chased as well,” said M B.

After 3km M B caught up to the defendant.

“‘What is the use of catching me?’ he said to me and to my colleague when we apprehended him,” said M B, who added that M A offered the officers a Dh10,000 as well as the 52 bottles of alcohol in return for letting him go.

“We kept silent as he kept repeating his offer, then we called for back up,” said M B, adding that when the defendant was questioned he confessed that he was given the alcohol by a man in Ajman to deliver to Dubai in return for Dh300.

“From my experience, I know that such alcohol is smuggled then sold to workers in accommodations,” said M B.

The defendant was referred to the Dubai Court of Misdemeanours on a charge of possessing alcohol without a license and was sentenced to a month in jail. He was also referred to the Dubai Criminal Court on a charge of offering a bribe to police officers.

“No I did not,” the defendant told judges when faced with the bribe charge.

The next hearing will be on March 26.