Arab man held on robbery, assault charges

DUBAI: An Arab unemployed man, 30, was arrested and prosecuted on robbery and assault charges ater impersonating an undercover police officer and robbing an Asian man of Dhs6,700 in Al Rigga, Dubai. During investigations, the victim testified that he had headed to a kiosk machine on the night of the incident at 1:00am.

The victim stopped his car to use the machine when the defendant suddenly entered the vehicle and sat in the passenger seat next to the victim.

“I thought it was a woman as he wore women’s clothing and make-up, but I was shocked to hear the voice of a man speaking,” the victim said.

The confused victim was taken by surprise while the defendant said, “I will let you know who Am I” and took out a white card with a police logo on it.

Believing that the defendant was an undercover police officer, the victim was asked to drive towards a side street where no one could witness what the defendant was about to do.

“He asked me to pull over and take out my wallet, then snatched all the money before returning it. He then exited the vehicle and told me to drive away,” said the victim. The victim also mentioned that half of the stolen amount belonged to his friend.

Police were later alerted to the incident and investigations were immediately carried out to identify the thief. The defendant was successfully placed under arrest and the case was referred to the criminal court to give the defendant a deserved jail-sentence for his crime.

BAN ON SLIMMING SUPPLEMENT: Separately, the Department of Health-abu Dhabi (DOH) has warned the public and health professionals against use of an unpermited product called “Al 3on Honey,” which is promoted and sold as a slimming nutritional supplement on social networking websites.

The DOH stated in a circular to the public, pharmaceutical facilities, healthcare facilities and health professionals that the results of the laboratory analysis proved that the aforementioned product contained an undeclared banned substance “Sibutramine,” which is prohibited due to its association with an increased risk of cardiovascular side effects such as heart atacks and strokes.