Dubai: Two salesmen faced changes of confining a cleaner for 10 hours in a flat against his will after the cleaner's friend failed to deliver a consignment of gold worth about Dh30,000 (about $8,110) to its destination in India.
The Indian salesmen were said to have made a deal with the friend of the Indian cleaner to carry 1kg of gold to India and deliver it to someone there for Dh100 in October.
When the gold consignment was not delivered to the agreed destination, according to court records, the salesmen, ages 25 and 43, locked the cleaner up in a flat in Al Baraha.
Then they assaulted him, coerced him to contact his friend [the gold courier] to know why the gold was not delivered to the exact address and threatened to kill him, court records show.
Following his release, the cleaner went to the police station and told them what had happened.
Illegal confinement
Prosecutors accused the suspects of confining the cleaner and threatening to kill him.
According to the charge sheet, prosecutors said the salesmen conspired with an unidentified number of suspects, who remain at large, when they assaulted and confined the cleaner.
The suspects pleaded not guilty and refuted their accusations when they defended themselves before the Dubai Court of First Instance on Monday.
The lawyers representing the suspects provided presiding judge Urfan Omar with a written waiver obtained from the victim.
The 24-year-old cleaner testified to prosecutors that the incident happened after his acquaintance, the 25-year-old suspect, asked him if he knew someone travelling to India.
“The suspect called me and told me that he needed to send one kilogram of gold to India … he also said that he would pay the transporter Dh100. I linked him up with my friend and that was my role. Two days later, the 25-year-old called me and asked to meet me in a parking lot in Al Baraha," the cleaner said.
"While waiting for him nearly eight people, including the suspects, came and pushed me into a car. The 25-year-old asked about my friend and why the gold wasn’t delivered… I told him that I did not know anything about my friend," the cleaner added.
"The men then assaulted me and threatened to kill me … then they took me to a flat and locked me inside for nearly 10 hours. They beat me repeatedly and threatened to kill me if the gold was not delivered. Then I was taken out of the flat and the men dropped me in Naif area... I went directly to the police,” he claimed to prosecutors.
A policeman claimed to prosecutors that the 43-year-old suspect was apprehended at the airport as he was trying to leave the country.
“The 25-year-old was detained three days later in a sting operation. During questioning, the 25-year-old claimed that the cleaner hooked him up with his friend who agreed to take the gold worth Dh30,000 to another person in India. The suspect alleged that the friend did not deliver the gold,” he testified to prosecutors.
