Woman uses aunt’s passport to travel

dubai — A woman allegedly stole her aunt’s passport and used it to travel from Dubai to Turkey, a court has heard. Public prosecution records show the 23-year-old stateless woman misused her Emirati aunt’s passport when she travelled with it through Dubai International Airport.

She has been accused at the Court of First Instance of stealing others’ passport, using it and wrongfully benefitting from that use. She was caught on June 10 at the airport. The case of passport loss was registered at Al Qusais police station. The public prosecution referred her to trial with a plea she receive a stiff penalty.

The complainant, a 28-yearold housewife, said that on May 28, she reported at the police station that she lost her passport, which she kept in her bedroom closet. “I learned then that the passport was used by my niece when leaving the airport.”

She discovered later that it was the defendant who stole it. “Her mother told me that her daughter informed her about her plan to go to a friend. But the latter then switched off her mobile phone. She did not return to the house and had packed her clothes.” The accused admitted during investigation that she took her aunt’s passport to travel to Turkey on May 27 and returned on June 10.

A report from the general directorate of criminal evidence and criminology said the passport was authentic and the photo on it was not the defendant’s. The niece was apprehended at the airport after she arrived. The court will pronounce a ruling on August 12.