By Dina Aboul Hosn gulfnews.com
A man allegedly trying to a pay a taxi fare with a $100 bill (Dh367) found himself charged with possessing and using fake currency, thanks to an alert taxi driver.
The defendant, who appeared in the Court of First Instance, denied knowing that the money was fake, although he attempted to get rid of his wallet when he saw that his scheme had been exposed.
The taxi driver told prosecutors that the Pakistani tourist hailed his cab in the Marina area and asked him to take him to the Gold Souq area.
The passenger inquired about the fare and told the driver that he would pay him with a $100 bill. The driver remembered that one of his colleagues had told him the day before that a Pakistani man had paid him the fare using a $100 bill, which turned out to be fake.
The colleague had told the taxi driver that he had given the man Dh290 in change before he took the $100 bill to an exchange shop and found out that it was fake.
Identify
The taxi driver called his colleague and asked him to come and identify the defendant because he thought he could be the same person.
When the colleague showed up, the defendant immediately ran and threw away his wallet, which was picked by the driver.
Some pedestrians blocked the defendant and held him until police arrived and arrested him.
The colleague testified that the taxi driver called him and told him that he was suspicious of a passenger who offered to pay in US dollars.
He testified that he identified the passenger, who then attempted to run away. A policeman told prosecutors that the defendant had $700 in his wallet in $100 and $50 bills.
According to a forensic lab report all the notes were fake.
Presiding Judge Fahmi Munir adjourned the case until July 31 to hear from prosecution witnesses.
