Two jailed for posing as Interpol officers in Dubai heist

Dubai

Two Emirati men were sentenced to five years in jail for posing as Interpol officers and kidnapping a man to a villa in Abu Dhabi before stealing Dh1.7 million in his possession.

The two Emirati men aged 36 and 37, posed as police officers when they stopped the Indian victim near his workplace at Baniyas in May 2019.

“One of them showed me papers from the United Nations and claimed that they work for the Interpol. I was carrying Dh1.7 million in a black bag. The money was for my company. I believed they were from Interpol. They took me to the back seat of a car which was nearby. There was another man inside the car,” the 33-year-old Indian victim said in records at the Dubai Court of First Instance.

He then texted his colleague to say that the police had arrested him.

The defendants took him to an under-construction villa in Abu Dhabi, and forced him to sit on the ground when a Pakistani defendant who is still at large spoke with him about the bag.

“They yelled and terrified me before they took the money.”

However, the defendants were arrested minutes later on their way back to Dubai as the victim’s colleague alerted Dubai Police.

A 36-year-old Emirati police officer testified that the victim’s friend claimed that unknown men took his friend while he was outside the workplace carrying a bag full with cash.

“We identified the suspects and arrested the first defendant while he was bringing back the victim from Abu Dhabi to Dubai. He admitted that a Pakistani friend planned the robbery and that they shared the money between them,” said the police officer in records.

Dubai Police arrested the second defendant while the other two are still at large.

According to Dubai Public Prosecution, the second defendant admitted to taking his share of the money which was Dh292,000.