Dubai — With a meager salary of Dh3,500 per month, Pakistani worker Mohammed Alam supports his wife, two children, four siblings and parents back home. Recently, when he went to an ATM vestibule in Al Mamzar, he found a wad of cash on top of a cash deposit machine (CDM) machine. Despite his pressing financial commitments, he handed over the money to the Dubai Police.
Alam, who works as a supervisor at a construction company, was honoured by the police for his honesty on Sunday.
Colonel Dr Adel Al Suwaidi, Director of Muraqqabat Police Station, lauded Alam and the community he lives in.
“People living in Al Muraqqabat are not financially well off, but they routinely help the police in returning lost items to their rightful owners.”
Police procedure
When the police receive complaints about lost money, they issue circulars with details of the case. If a resident turns up at the police station with the money, it is returned to the owner. If someone hands over lost money to the police and if nobody turns up to claim it, the police will keep it for six months before handing it over to the authorities concerned.Returned money Amounts handed over to police by Good Samaritans: Dh125,252; $24,792; and €825. |
Al Suwaidi said a Sudanese businessman told the police that he went to deposit Dh150,000 at the CDM machine, but could not do so due to some technical glitches. He discovered to his horror later that Dh50,000 was missing. At about 8pm on the incident day, Alam arrived at the police station with the money.
Alam had stepped into the ATM vestibule minutes after the businessman left. Alam told Khaleej Times: “On finding the money, I looked for the ATM security guard but could not find him. Since I don’t have a car, I took a taxi and went to my accommodation to change my clothes before going to the police station to hand over the money.
“I am a God-fearing Muslim and don’t want money that does not belong to me.”
The businessman gave some money to Alam as a token of appreciation for his honesty.
Honesty in action
In 2014, Al Suwaidi said, the Al Muraqqabat police station honoured three persons — two Indians and a Pakistani — for returning $9,000, Dh4,270 and Dh50,000 to the police. An Arab man also was honoured at the station for preventing a theft and helping the police arrest the thief.
The police will also honour a Filipina, who works at a travel and tourism company, for returning Dh4,300 she found dispensed in an ATM machine on New Year’s Eve. The money belonged to an Arab national who went to the ATM to withdraw money, but left without collecting it.
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