DUBAI // Throwing litter from your car window towards another car is asking for trouble.
And trouble is precisely what an unidentified litterbug got on Sunday.
The car at which he chucked his rubbish happened to be occupied by Maj Gen Mohammed Al Zaffin, the director general of Dubai Police traffic department.
"We were both waiting at the traffic light when I saw him throw something from the window," Gen Al Zaffin said. "I stopped and asked him why he did it, and told him that it is punishable by the law, and I fined him."
Anyone caught littering by traffic police can be fined Dh500 and is assigned four black points. Officers are constantly on the lookout for litter bugs, police say.
In the first nine months of this year, 488 people were fined by the traffic department for throwing litter from their cars. More than 500 were fined in the same period last year.
Dubai Municipality workers can also impose fines on anyone caught littering on the street.