Dubai: An off-duty policeman and two others have been jailed for posing as policemen and forcing their way into a trading company, tying up two of its employees and stealing Dh110,000.

The trio, a police corporal, S.S., a Moroccan visitor, I.B., and an Indian salesman, O.S., were said to have held the Indian employees after claiming that they were from the police.

The Dubai Court of First Instance jailed S.S. and I.B. for three years while O.S. was jailed for a year.

Presiding judge Ezzat Abdul Lat convicted S.S. and I.B. of tying up the employees’ hands and legs with plastic rope and tape and stealing the money kept in the company’s drawers.

Meanwhile O.S. was convicted of aiding and abetting the other two defendants.

The trio had pleaded not guilty before the court.

The Indian and Moroccan will be deported following the completion of their punishments, according to Monday’s ruling.

Prosecutors said O.S. guided S.S. and I.B. to the company. S.S. and I.B. forced themselves inside after one of them presented a Dubai Police ID.

The defendants asked the employees about the company’s owner and once they were told that he had gone for prayers, S.S. and I.B. tied up the employees and stole the money.

The company’s 62-year-old Indian owner said the incident happened in September 2013.

“When I returned to the company, I rang the doorbell. I was surprised when I.B. answered the door. I walked in and saw the employees lying on the floor with their arms and legs tied. When I asked the defendants for their identification, they repeatedly shouted ‘police’.

“I doubted them… when I confronted them they shouted at me again and said they were carrying out their work. I immediately told them that I’d lived in the UAE for a long time and knew whether what they were doing was right or not. S.S. got very angry and yelled at me when I argued with them,” the Indian owner told prosecutors.

Records said the defendants took the money from drawers and put it into a bag.

“When the employees warned me that the defendants were stealing the money, I shouted at the defendants and asked them to call for uniformed police to come and do whatever they want. The defendants hid the money in their pockets and walked away. I called up my sponsor and told him what happened,” the owner said.

The employees claimed that the defendants assaulted and beat them up before they tied them up.

A policeman testified that the suspects were identified from the documents found in the bag that they left during the heist.

Monday’s ruling remains subject to appeal within 15 days.