He bought counterfeit currency to show off

An Arab gets involved in a crime because of a game on «Snapchat»

The Dubai Appeal acquitted the defendant after convicting him and punishing him with imprisonment in "felonies". Archival

An Arab man was involved in a strange crime of its kind, as he was found in possession of 100 counterfeit US $ 100 bills while entering the country through the Hatta border crossing.

The man admitted to knowing about counterfeiting these coins, but insisted that he did not intend to use or promote them, and that he bought them from a tourist market in Turkey to play, photograph and publish them on his Snapchat account, as a matter of fun.

The defendant was referred to the Public Prosecution in Dubai, which in turn referred him to the Criminal Court on charges of introducing counterfeit banknotes into the country, and the Court of First Instance sentenced him to six months in prison, suspended for three years, and deportation from the state, but he appealed the verdict to the Court of Appeal, which overturned the verdict and acquitted him.

In detail, the facts of the case stated that the defendant was on his way to the country from a neighboring country through the Hatta border crossing, when customs inspectors suspected his car, and by searching it, 100 counterfeit US $100 bills were found.

A witness from Dubai Customs in the Public Prosecution's investigations said that he was on the job and was following up on cars and passengers coming from one of the neighboring countries, before allowing passage through the border crossing, and once the accused entered the country by land, he took the usual procedures and searched his car, but he noticed the closure of the front luggage box from the right side with the key.

He added that he asked the defendant to open the box, and found 99 counterfeit notes of 100 US dollars inside.

When asked, he decided that they were toys he bought from a market in Turkey, to use them in games, photograph them and publish them on his account, and he entered them through Dubai airport and then put them in his car, and left them to a neighboring country, and then returned with those papers in his possession, pointing out that the defendant took another paper out of his pocket of the same category and handed it to him.

The inspector explained that the seized papers appear to be printed and improper according to texture and color, and devoid of means of guarantee, as he replaced the usual shiny strip in those currencies with blue bold, indicating that the accused did not use those papers, and that a person familiar with the description of coins of that denomination can detect their counterfeiting easily, while those who are not familiar with the nature of the currency can be deceived by them. The seized papers were referred to the General Department of Forensic Evidence and Criminology of Dubai Police, the result of the examination showed that they were counterfeit to the average person and could be deceived. By asking the defendant in the minutes of collecting evidence and the investigations of the Public Prosecution, he denied the charge against him, and his defense was that he bought the seized papers with the intention of playing, photographing them and displaying them on his account in social networks, stressing that they cannot look real or correct to anyone, and their appearance suggests that they are for playing and no one is fooled by them, and that he put them in his car and left outside the country and was seized during his return.

After hearing the case, the Court of First Instance ruled in his presence, punishing the defendant with six months' imprisonment, confiscating the seized counterfeit currency and deporting him from the State from what was attributed to him, and ordered a stay of execution of the prison sentence for a period of three years starting from the final verdict.

For his part, the defendant appealed the verdict before the Court of Appeal, which clarified in the reasons for its ruling, that it reassures the defendant's defense, that he possessed these cards with the intention of playing and photographing them on social networks, and his intention was not to promote or deal with them inside or outside the country, and the case papers were devoid of any evidence against this, and ended up canceling the first instance verdict and acquitting the accused.