Dubai Metro policeman 'stole from passenger to feed drug addiction'

DUBAI // A Metro policeman who beat a passenger and stole Dh800 from him did so to feed his heroin addiction, a Dubai court heard this morning.

Omani AM, 24, was arrested after an Indian passenger lodged a complaint against him at the Transportation Security Department.

He said AM assaulted him on October 27 last year at the Union Metro Station next to Al Ghurair Centre and took his money.

When the defendant was interrogated at the Bur Dubai Police station, he confessed but insisted he "did not beat him very hard".

"The defendant said he only stopped the Indian man for a security check then let him go," said WM, a lieutenant at the Dubai Police's Transportation Security Department who testified.

"As I was questioning AM, he did not seem normal. So when I asked him about that, he confessed he had been on drugs - mainly heroin - for a year," said WM. "He told me the last time he had heroin was three weeks ago while on duty at Al Rashidiya Metro Station."

A drug test confirmed AM had been using narcotics, but he was not present in court to face a charge of consuming drugs.

A verdict is expected on February 10.