Dubai
Eight men have been jailed for three years each for luring three employees of money exchange houses to a hotel to exchange $1 million (Dh3.67 million) and stealing the equivalent amount in dirhams.
The three employees, from two different money exchange houses, were contacted by a Jordanian businessman who wanted to convert $1 million to dirhams in February.
The Indian employees communicated between each other and arranged Dh3.6 million that was meant to be handed over in exchange for the $1 million to the businessman at a hotel room in Deira.
Four Africans showed up at the hotel room where the employees were present, assaulted, tied up and threatened them with knives and absconded with Dh3.6 million.
The victims called the police immediately and gave details about a Cameroonian man, who had driven the other four robbers to the hotel in a car.
The eight culprits, six Cameroonians and two Malians, were identified and apprehended one at a time within few days after the incident.
In May, the Dubai Court of First Instance convicted the defendants of beating the Indian employees, tying them with ropes, stealing their cash, threatening them with sharp tools and possession of the stolen millions.
The defendants appealed their primary judgements before the Appeal Court and sought to have their imprisonments reduced.
Three of the defendants pleaded guilty before the Appeal Court.
They told the court that the other five defendants were not involved in the heist.
One of the Indian employees testified that his Sri Lankan friend told him over the phone about the Jordanian businessman who wanted to convert $1 million to dirhams.
“I called up a colleague and informed him about the deal ... we contacted with another employee at another exchange house to arrange the money. When we went to the hotel room where we had agreed to meet, the defendants showed up. In the beginning, they took out a bundle of dollars from a black bag and one of them pretended to be counting. After he finished counting the first bundle, he put his hands inside the bag and we thought that he was going to take out another bundle to continue counting ... then all of a sudden, he took out a knife and his accomplices also brandished sharp tools. They assaulted us ... we were threatened, muzzled, tied with ropes and kept on the floor. Meanwhile, they took away the cash and our mobile phones and absconded,” he told prosecutors.
A police major said the Cameroonian accused who drove the robbers to the hotel was apprehended first in Dubai Marina.
“We recovered from him Dh56,000 of the stolen cash. The second defendant was arrested in Al Satwa and he had Dh21,000 on him. Three other accused were apprehended in Al Ain and they also had cash on them. The rest were also apprehended later,” the major said.
The appellate ruling remains subject to appeal before the Cassation Court within 25 days.
