‘Fake cop’ assaults police, jailed

dubai — An Emirati man has been sentenced to two years in jail for assaulting a police officer and fiercely resisting arrest when the cops chased his car on finding that he and his 44-year-old Iranian accomplice were impersonating as policemen.

While trying to flee, the main accused put the lives of two patrol police officers at risk after he swerved his car suddenly. He was drunk when he intentionally caused Dh6,900 damage to the police car after he ran into it.

The court fined him Dh5,000 for possessing 11 beer cans, which he intended to share with others, without a licence.

The Iranian man, who has been found guilty of criminal complicity in charges of forced robbery, kidnap and impersonation, has been sentenced to one year in jail and slapped a Dh5,000 fine. He will be deported after that.

According to public prosecution records, the incident took place on January 26, 2014, after the police received several complaints about individuals posing as policemen robbing people — mainly workers — of their cash and sometimes even kidnapping them.

“There were several complaints within less than one week about a man driving around, along with other suspects, stopping workers and stealing their cash after pretending to be policemen. When we reached the place we met the complainant who gave us the car’s descriptions,” a police officer said.

The officer added that they tried to stop the defendants’ car shortly later but the driver would not obey their order. “He kept speeding and driving recklessly and even swerving in our direction until he crashed into our car.”

The defendant then hit the pavement and had to stop. He pushed the officer when he tried to arrest him and fled the scene. “We arrested his accomplice first. We caught him later.”

A 36-year-old Bangladeshi man said he was walking at night in Al Quoz when three men in a car stopped him posing as CID officers. He was kidnapped to a desert location where they snatched Dh1,200 from his wallet.

mary@khaleejtimes.com