Dubai Police Will Soon Stop Confiscating Passports for Minor Misdemeanors

The Dubai Prosecution is launching an electronic bail system in which suspects involved in certain misdemeanors will be able to keep their passports in their possession, the agency announced on April 9.

The passports will not be confiscated by the police or prosecutors, according to this newly launched smart initiative. The suspects will be able to keep their and their guarantors’ passports as per the “Smart Bail” initiative, Prosecutor General Ali Humaid Bin Khatem told Gulf News.

“This new initiative was put into practice as of January 2018 at Jebel Ali Police Station. The ‘smart bail’ initiative allows suspects involved in minor crimes and/or their guarantors to keep hold of their passports without depositing them in the custody of the prosecution or police. However, an electronic order will be issued and circulated to all ports banning the involved suspects from leaving the country,” Bin Khatem was quoted as saying by the publication.

The smart bail initiative will roll out to other police stations in Dubai by the second quarter of 2018. After getting the smart bail, the suspects will be released from the police station.

“Dubai Public Prosecution will not confiscate passports of parties who are charged with minor offences. Instead, case details of the person will be registered electronically. Once the details are recorded, the system notifies all exit ports. The Smart Bail service is only applicable to misdemeanors and some finance-related cases,” the statement said.

This is part of the new penal order system that was launched in Dubai in November 2017. For minor offences and misdemeanors, the Public Prosecution can issue verdicts instead of referring them to courts to speed up the process.

Recently, Dhahi Khalfan, the Lieutenant General and head of General Security in Dubai, said that Indians were more “disciplined” than Pakistanis and Bangladeshis living in the city.

“Why are Indians disciplined while sedition, criminality and smuggling in the Pakistani community are rampant?” he tweeted.

In January 2017, there were about 900-1,000 Indian prisoners in the jails across the UAE, Indian embassy’s first secretary (Community Affairs) Dinesh Kumar had earlier told the Khaleej Times.

Dubai is one of the biggest cities in the United Arab Emirates, with 90 per cent of the population comprising expatriates.