Dubai police officers jailed for blackmail

Two police officers who tried to blackmail a woman into having sex with them in return for not arresting her, have each been sentenced to three years in jail.

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DUBAI // Two police officers who tried to blackmail a woman into having sex with them in return for not arresting her, have each been sentenced to three years in jail.

Dubai Criminal Court convicted Emiratis M H A, 22, and M A A, 26, of seeking a bribe.

On February 5 this year, the two officers asked a Moroccan woman to have sex with them both as payment for not taking her to a police station following her arrest for being an illegal immigrant.

The 34-year-old woman, F M, told prosecutors that on the day of the incident she was with a friend in taxi when a police patrol stopped them.

“They asked for our IDs so I handed him my passport, which he checked on the system. Then he asked me to accompany them to the patrol car because I was an illegal resident,” she said.

She said that when she got into the car M H A told her that if she joined him at a hotel and had sex with him, he would let her go.

“I took his phone number and told him we can be friends, then he told his colleague that I agreed to have sex with him the next day so they let me go,” she told the court.

The Moroccan then asked for her passport back, but they refused. The next day she contacted the police and was given a phone to record further conversations with both men.

She received several calls from M H A, most of which revolved around having sex with the officer in return for her passport. The officer was arrested in a sting operation after agreeing to meet F M.

M H A denied a charge of seeking a bribe, while his colleague was charged in absentia.

The court also ordered that both men be dismissed from their posts. The verdict remains subject to appeal within 15 days.

salamir@thenational.ae