Dubai: Moving from Bahrain to the UAE, Radha Fonseka and her husband were looking forward to their new life here with their two-year-old Shih Tzu, Murphy.
To their dismay, when they had finalised the apartment they were to move into, they learnt as a late stage that their landlord would not allow pets in the building. So, Murphy had to be given up. Though the news was upsetting for Radha, she directed all her attention and effort into the next best thing she could do for her pet — finding him a healthy new home. She placed an advertisement on dubizzle.com.
Subsequently, “I got a call from a man who called himself Mohammad, and who claimed to be a dog lover and kept sending me pictures of himself with his dogs,” Radha said. “He then asked if he could take Murphy with him for two days as a trial run to see if he got along with his other dogs. So we agreed.”
When the two-day trial came to an end, Radha tried getting in touch with Mohammad. But she could not get hold of him. After repeated attempts, he finally answered her call and [refused to bring Murphy back]. By this stage, Radha was convinced that her dog had been kidnapped by him and so she threatened to file a police case against him.
“He didn’t seem to care,” said Radha. “So I went to Al Rafah police station and filed a case. Simultaneously, I created a Facebook page that colleagues and friends shared to help find Murphy,” said Radha.
When Mohammad was contacted by the police, Radha said, he claimed that Murphy had run away and he no longer knows his whereabouts.
Radha’s Facebook page was noticed by a woman who called Radha to inform her that someone tried to sell Murphy to her at the Sharjah Animal Market. “She sent me his number and it matched the mobile number I had [of Mohammad].”
Radha added that she sent the woman [who had been approached at the animal market to buy Murphy] a picture of Mohammad to confirm that he is indeed the man who tried to make the deal. The woman confirmed that it was Mohammad trying to sell Murphy to her.
The Fonsekas then proceeded to the police station to file a statement.
“When [Mohammad] was brought into custody, he denied everything and acted as though he had never seen me nor the eyewitness before, but later admitted to committing the crime,” said Radha.
The interrogation process by the police also brought to light the fact that Mohammad had sold eight other dogs using similar tactics.
As for Murphy, “the man who bought Murphy returned him to the market shortly after purchasing him”, said Radha. Murphy was then sold to another woman, whose identity is not known to Radha. Radha then approached every veterinary clinic with Murphy’s photograph till she zeroed in on the clinic where he had been taken. The clinic, however, is refusing to disclose any information on Murphy’s whereabouts.
Murphy’s documents and paperwork are still with the Fonsekas as they remain the official owners of the dog.
