DUBAI // A taxi driver who was robbed by three passengers beat one of them unconscious with a shovel, a court has been told.
SM, 20, an Emirati student, HM, 29, an unemployed Emirati, and KA, a 21-year-old Iranian trader, flagged down a cab driven by MI, 28, in Rashidiya on November 28 last year and asked him to take them to Mirdif, according to records at Dubai Criminal Court of First Instance.
MI told prosecutors his passengers asked him to stop the car in a poorly lit area of Mirdif. He said one of them got out of the cab and hit him on the face, neck and chest, another held him from behind and tried to choke him, while the third stole his wallet and his mobile phone.
MI said he chased the three men to nearby villas, where HM brandished a pocket knife and jumped at him, knocking him to the ground. "I found a shovel next to me and swiped SM with it on the face," MI told prosecutors.
After SM was knocked to the ground, HM fled.
A local resident, Suhaib Abdullah, 34, from Jordan, told prosecutors he heard noises outside his house at about 1.30am. He said he saw MI, his clothes in tatters, pulling an unconscious SM along the ground while beating him about the body with a shovel. MI asked him to call the police, he said.
"I was shocked at the sight. He was hitting him on his legs, head and face while he lay passed out on the ground," Mr Abdullah said.
Forensic reports presented to the court from the medical examiner showed that the taxi driver suffered a broken nose, while SM received blows to the head, suffered internal bleeding and was admitted to the intensive care unit of Rashid Hospital, where he was placed on a life-support system.
MI was charged with attempted murder. The three passengers were charged with theft.
The case was adjourned until this month.
amustafa@thenational.ae
NO OTHER LAND
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The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
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