Policeman jailed for accepting bribe and allowing prisoner to escape

DUBAI // A policeman who accepted Dh5,000 in return for helping a prisoner escape from his cell has been jailed for three years.

The 27-year-old officer, who holds a Comoros Islands passport, was convicted of helping the Emirati escape from a police station after accepting the cash on October 14 last year.

The prisoner, a 35-year-old businessman, was being held on charges of using a forged official document.

The officer denied charges of seeking and accepting a bribe and violating the duties and responsibilities of his profession when he appeared at Dubai Criminal Court.

At around 5am, the officer unlocked the back door of the detention centre for the man and gave him his car to leave the Ports Police Station.

“I questioned them both and they confessed and said that the agreement was that the detainee escapes for one day just to meet his wife and children then return to custody,” a 38-year-old policeman told the court.

The court ordered the officer be fired from his job and fined Dh5,000.

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