Dubai: A Dubai-based worker, who was at large for two years after causing a gas cylinder explosion, has been sentenced to one year in jail, to be followed by deportation.
The Afghan defendant, along with two others, was illegally filling gas cylinders at a farm in Dubai’s Al Aweer area in 2019, when one cylinder exploded. Two of the defendants were arrested soon after the incident. The third defendant was at large until Dubai Police arrested him recently and he was presented to Dubai Courts. He was charged with endangering the lives of others by causing a fire, forging labels on gas cylinders, illegally possessing 112 gas cylinders and transporting flammable material in a minibus.
The other two defendants had previously been sentenced to one year in jail each, followed by deportation.
According to the Dubai Court of First Instance, police were alerted about the explosion in a room at a farm. The owner of the farm told police officers that she had rented the room to the 37-year-old Afghani defendant.
After the explosion, one of the defendants was arrested from Hor Al Anz in Dubai, along with a second suspect who had burn injuries on his arms and legs.
“They confessed that they were filling the gas cylinders when one of the cylinders caught fire,” an Emirati policeman said on record.
The defendants from Afghanistan confessed that they had brought the gas cylinders from Ajman and were transferring the gas to other cylinders with Dubai labels on them. They confessed that they fled the scene as the fire spread to other parts of the farm soon after the explosion.
