DUBAI// A man threatened employees at an exchange house with a home-made fake bomb, a court heard.
The 38-year-old Briton walked into Al Ansari Exchange branch in Barsha Heights, formerly Tecom, on November 2 last year at nearly 11pm. He handed the female manager a note in which he demanded she give him money or he would detonate a bomb he was carrying, Dubai Criminal Court was told.
“He said there were two other people waiting for him outside and then he picked up a black box wrapped in plastic and told me this was the bomb,” said the Filipina manager who rang the silent emergency alarm connected to the Dubai Police operations room.
“I was stalling him but he suddenly picked up the black box and ran out. Police came and I told them what happened,” she said.
The defendant was arrested on November 7 after he was identified by the branch manager.
Dubai Criminal Court was told he assembled the bomb at home because he had financial difficulties. He confessed during questioning to attempted robbery and issuing death threats using a fake bomb but in court he denied the charges.
A verdict is expected on January 29.
salamir@thenational.ae