DUBAI // A man who was being arrested for selling illegal alcohol broke a policeman’s arm and leg, a court has heard.
Dubai Criminal Court was told that on August 18 last year, officers at Naif police station were tipped off that the Nigerian defendant was trying to sell 20 bottles of bootlegged alcohol.
“I was assigned along with other officers to raid the place we were told liquor was being sold,” the Emirati officer said.
He said that as he and fellow officers arrived they saw the defendant sitting behind boxes filled with bottles of alcohol, which he sold to passers-by.
“As we walked towards him, another Nigerian man screamed and alerted him but I caught him,” the officer said. “He resisted me, punched me in the stomach then kicked me hard, threw me to the floor and sat on top of me breaking both my arm and leg.
Despite his injuries, the officer was able to keep hold of the accused until his colleagues arrived.
The defendant was not in court to face charges of assaulting an officer and bootlegging.
The man who alerted him was referred to the Misdemeanours Court on charges of illegal possession of alcohol.
The next hearing is scheduled for May 31.
salamir@thenational.ae