Bungling officer at Dubai Police Academy caught stealing, court told

A Dubai Police Academy officer was apprehended after leaving his passport copy in the shop where he sold two stolen Blackberrys.

DUBAI // A bungling officer at Dubai's Police Academy who stole two BlackBerrys from trainees was caught because he left a copy of his passport with the shop he sold the devices to, the Criminal Court heard today.

Prosecutors said that KK, a 21-year-old Emirati officer, took the car keys of the two trainees from their dorm rooms while they were training and stole the phones from their vehicles. He returned the keys before the two finished their training.

He then visited the Al Seyam Mobile phone shop in Sharjah where he sold the two devices for Dh2,000. MA, a Bangladeshi salesman at the shop, said that the officer was filmed by the shop's surveillance camera as he made the sale.

Another policeman, 36-year-old AM, said that in March he was asked to investigate the officer following a complaint.

"I managed to reach a mobile phone shop worker who told me that the [officer] sold him the two phones," said the investigator. He added that the shop worker provided him a photo-copy of the officer's passport, which was left with the shop when the sale was made.

"The owners of the two mobiles identified him through his picture in the passport copy," said the investigator.

Prosecutors said the officer confessed during interrogation. In court, he denied a charge of theft.

A verdict is expected on October 18.