Dubai: A gang of seven men went on trial before the Dubai Court of First Instance on Tuesday for allegedly kidnapping two men and stealing Dh3.5 million from them after posing as police officers.
A 39-year-old Emirati and a 38-year-old Syrian, both defendants, posed as policemen and allegedly approached the victims with the assistance of five others — an Afghan and four Pakistanis — who were subsequently charged with aiding and abetting the crime.
In January of this year, the pair travelling in a Land Cruiser stopped their victims in Naif and flashed fake police identification.
Victims
“They claimed that they were police officers and that there was a case against us regarding the source of our money,” said one of the two Pakistani victims.
The two suspects then took the pair to an area in Jebel Ali where they took the victim's money, telling them it had to be seized because it was part of an on-going case.
After the suspects had dismissed them, the victims headed to a police station in Abu Dhabi and were told there was no case against them, following which they reported the incident to police.
The two offenders were caught and charged with impersonating police officers, theft and kidnapping.
Moreover, the accused Syrian man was charged with resisting arrest.
The pair told police about their five accomplices, who were the ones who told them about the two victims possessing a large amount of money.
Police were only able to recover Dh500,000 from the total amount stolen.
All defendants denied charges against them. A ruling is scheduled for April 2.
