Dubai: A man posing as a police officer has robbed two maids of jewellery worth Dh10,000 and other belongings within a week in a locality in Al Muraqqabat.
The two women are warning that the fraudster could be on the prowl, targeting more maids and other blue collar workers.
Meena Mekali (name changed) who works as a housemaid claims the Arab man forced her to hand over her gold chain worth over Dh3,500 in his car when she failed to produce her labour card. “He was dressed in a kandoura and stopped me while I was on my way to a friend’s place,” said the 45- year-old from India’s Tamil Nadu.
“He asked me to get inside his car and soon took away my phone. Then he asked me, in Arabic, to remove my chain – all of 24 grams,” she added, recalling the daylight robbery. “At first I thought he was a CID officer but no sooner did he drop me a few paces away and handed back my bag than I realised he was a fraudster. The bag had my phone but not the chain. By the time I looked up to raise an alarm or note down the car number, the white sedan had sped off,” said the woman. One of her acquaintances fell prey to a similar trick seven days later around the same spot, losing gold jewellery weighing 40 grams. “A man stopped me to check on my visa status but I wasn’t carrying my labour card at the time. So he asked me to deposit all I had, including my mobile phone, gold earrings and bangles with him till I come back with all my papers. When I returned, there was no one to be seen. I waited for almost an hour before I realised I had been robbed,” said Mekali’s friend who requested anonymity.
“I had used my life savings over years here in Dubai to buy that jewellery. That’s all I had.”
Cases of men posing as police officers to rob, kidnap people have often been reported. Last week an Abu Dhabi court heard how a businessman kidnapped and molested a student by claiming he was a police officer.
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