Polanco’s nightmare stay in Dubai began as she traveled back to
New York City from Istanbul with a friend on 14 July when her ordeal began. The 21-year-old, a business arts major at Lehman College in the Bronx, had stopped there for a connecting flight when airport customs officers told her to take off a waist compression device she was wearing after having surgery.
Though she said the officers had directed unfriendly stares at her and seemingly laughed at the appearance of her surgical wounds, Polanco gently tapped one of the women on the arm to ask for help putting the cumbersome trainer back on, said
a news release from Detained in Dubai, an organization that provides legal assistance to foreigners in the United Arab Emirates.
Customs officers alleged that contact by Polanco was “assaulting and insulting”. Polanco was detained in a room for hours as the officers filed a formal complaint against her that would trigger a complicated judicial process.