‘Man poses as cop, asks truck drivers for money’

sharjah — A Gulf national stood trial at the Sharjah Criminal Court for impersonating a public official and biting the hand of a policeman during his arrest.

The accused, in his 30s, attacked a Sharjah Police official as he was trying to escape from the patrol officer.

According to the court records, the police official questioned him after he was found pulling over several trucks on the Sheikh Mohamed Bin Zayed Road next to the Sharjah-Ajman border. The accused allegedly posed as a traffic officer and told the drivers that they had over Dh10,000 in fines and he could help them cancel the violations if they paid him Dh1,000.

One of the two police officers who served as witnesses told the court that he was on duty when he was alerted of a traffic jam on the Sheikh Mohamed Bin Zayed Road. When he and his colleague arrived at the site, they reportedly found the accused talking to the heavy truck drivers.

The patrol officials then reportedly discovered that the accused had been pretending to be a traffic officer, asking for money. They took him to the patrol vehicle, where the accused allegedly said he was diabetic and was feeling tired.

“He took out a piece of paper from his pocket, asked the police whether they knew about its content, and then tried to swallow it. I tried to prevent him from swallowing it, but he bit me and tried to escape. However, my colleague helped me catch him.”

Supporting the testimony of the officer, the second police witness said: “A number of drivers told us that the accused claimed he was a policeman and asked them to give him some money to cancel violations that exceeded Dh10,000. When he was taken inside the patrol car, we suspected he was taking narcotics as the defendant was acting abnormally.”

During the police interrogation, the defendant insisted that he did not ask the drivers for money and that he was only asking for help after his car broke down.

The defendant claimed that the policeman had put his hand in his mouth and forced him to bite it. His lawyer told the court that his client is under some prescribed medication.

The court adjourned the case to March 11.