UAE | Crime
Police arrest 5 expatriates on charges of abduction and seeking ransom
Police arrested five Asian expatriates for kidnapping a man and demanding ransom.
- By Nasouh Nazzal, Staff Reporter
- Published: 16:16 January 12, 2009
Ras Al Khaimah: The Investigation Branch of the Criminal Investigation Department of Ras Al Khaimah Police, in cooperation with Al Ain Police, has captured a five-man gang wanted for kidnapping, extortion and blackmail.
The suspects are being charged with abducting a compatriot whose brother, they claimed, owed them money which the gang had paid in exchange for visas for families of the gang members.
Addressing a news conference yesterday at the RAK Police Department, Lieutenant-Colonel Salem Sultan Al Darmaki, chief of the Investigation and Intelligence Section, said that a representative of the sponsor company of the victim's brother reported the kidnapping to Al Rams Police Station.
The police were told that the victim's brother received a phone call from an anonymous person demanding ransom for his kidnapped brother's life. He was told his brother would be killed unless the ransom was paid.
General Shaikh Taleb Bin Saqr Al Qasimi, chief of RAK Police, personally supervised the operation and formed a team to conduct a sting operation and free the kidnapped victim.
RAK Police instructed the brother to call the gang back and promise to deliver the Dh23,000 ransom money in exchange for the victim.
The brother and the gang spokesman agreed to meet in Al Ain to complete the deal.
Nabbed
Lt-Col. Al Darmaki said that the police arranged the ransom money, and in cooperation with Al Ain Police, set a trap to catch the suspects.
He added that a team of policemen accompanied the brother to Al Ain where they teamed up with other police.
The officers pounced on two of the suspects when the money was handed over. The two led police to the rest of the gang who were hiding on a remote farm in Al Ain.
The remaining members of the gang were arrested and the victim, who had been bound with tight ropes, was freed after a week in captivity.
The five suspects pleaded guilty to kidnapping and blackmail, claiming that the victim's brother had promised to get them family visit visas for the same amount they demanded as ransom.
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