The billionaire owner of the 33 million dirham ($9 million) Dubai license plate No. 5 just got a man arrested. His reason? Uploading a video of his vehicle parked in a handicap bay.
Balwinder Sahni, an Indian businessman living in Dubai, turned to the UAE's Cybercrime Law No. 5 of 2012. He said he was very "embarrassed" when a video of his vehicle in the handicap bay went viral. Initially, the clip led police to fine his driver 1,000 dirhams and give him four black points.
But, Sahni took issue with the police decision and claims that he was not "parked" in the bay and was simply loading the vehicle.
"I had many bags carrying heavy catalogues so the driver pulled up for about 30 seconds so we could load the car," he told the Khaleej Times.
The Dubai Police eventually arrested the offending man.
"They told me he worked in Aspen Tower where the car was parked and he was arrested just an hour or so ago. He is at Al Barsha police station. What he did was a sheer violation of the cyber law," Sahni said.
"I feel like Dubai Police has given my rights back to me, I want to thank them ... Maybe now this will deter people from taking my picture and video and using it to create negative stories. I will never say no to people who want to take my picture but please don't use it out of context to create attention."
>Sahni made local and international headlines when he purchased the pricey No. 5 license plate for one of his Rolls Royces at a government auction in early October.
If convicted under the Cybercrimes Law, the man faces up to six months in prison and a fine between 150,000 and 300,000 dirhams. The law has seen numerous other residents of the United Arab Emirates convicted and even deported.
An Australian woman was deported from the UAE last year after uploading a photo of an illegally parked vehicle. She had removed the license plate number from the image before uploading it.
Earlier this year, an Emirati woman was fined for using hateful language in a Whatsapp chat with her uncle.