Dubai: A merchant who went into a hotel room for a massage ended up being stripped naked, filmed, threatened and robbed.

The six men arrested for the crime pleaded not guilty before the Dubai Court of First Instance on Thursday.

The incident happened in September when the Pakistani merchant, who was staying at a luxury hotel on Shaikh Zayed Road, got in touch with a woman through a dating app.

Under the impression that she was an Emirati, he arranged to meet her in the lobby of the hotel. However, she turned out to be a Nigerian, who offered him a sex massage and persuaded him to accompany her to a room. As soon they got into the room, a number of Nigerian men attacked the Pakistani. He was tied up, undressed and filmed naked. The men threatened to break his legs and took his bank cards and all the cash in his wallet.

Two of the men then tried to use the man’s credit card to withdraw cash from an ATM, but it didn’t work. They returned to the room and forced him to hand over the keycard of his room at his hotel and the passcode of the safety box. They stole Dh12,000 in cash and a wristwatch worth Dh26,000 from it.

Once his attackers fled the room, the merchant reported the matter to the police.

Primary interrogations led to the arrest of two unemployed Nigerians aged 32 and 28 and their four compatriots — a waiter, technician, cleaner and a security guard — aged between 21 and 32.

Prosecutors accused the six suspects of assaulting the merchant and robbing him.

A police lieutenant told prosecutors that “the merchant alleged that he had met a woman who claimed to be an Emirati, but turned out to be an African. He claimed to have agreed to go with her for a massage in a hotel room … once they entered the room, he said he was attacked ... The culprits coerced him to reveal the passcode to his safety box. The suspects were apprehended in the same hotel where they had confined the merchant. Upon questioning, they admitted that they had carried out a number of heists using the same modus operandi”.

A ruling will be heard on Monday.