Cleaner steals memory card, posts photos on FB

dubai — An aircraft cleaner stood trial in a Dubai court for stealing a smartphone’s memory card and posting its owner’s pictures on his Facebook account “to get more followers”.

The 28-year-old Pakistani found the smartphone, which belongs to an American woman, while he was cleaning the aircraft. He stole the memory card before handing over the phone to his senior to put it in the lost and found section.

Once he added the memory card to his mobile phone after duty, he found selfies and “beautiful pictures” of the woman to whom the phone belonged. According to records, the defendant had told prosecutors that he posted her pictures on his Facebook account to “get more followers”.

Meanwhile, the American woman discovered that she had lost her phone on an Angola-Dubai flight, but decided to continue her journey to Lebanon. When Dubai Airports later shipped her smartphone to Lebanon, she found that the memory card was missing. Three weeks later, a friend notified her that her pictures are posted on Facebook under the defendant’s account.

The woman then reported the incident to the airport’s police station.

At the Dubai Court of First Instance on Thursday, the defendant admitted to the charges against him.

The ruling of the case will be heard on January 18.