Dubai: Six men were jailed for seven years each after they were convicted of posing as policemen, kidnapping and stealing Dh1.3 million from a marketing manager in January.

The Dubai Court of First Instance found the six defendants, five Pakistanis and an Indian all aged between 20 and 40, guilty of impersonating policemen, kidnap, assault and theft.

A seventh Pakistani defendant, I.A., was jailed for three years for aiding and abetting the other defendants, according to the judgment.

The defendants were said to have used an identity card that bore a Dubai Police logo before they forced the manager into their car, brutally beat and robbed him.

All the accused pleaded not guilty when they appeared in court. They also denied the charge of threatening to kill the victim, M.I.

The Prosecution stated that the defendants observed M.I. very closely before they stopped him in the street posing as policemen. They tricked the victim claiming that he was wanted.

Prosecutors said the victim was handcuffed and forced into the assailants’ car. Then they beat and kicked him inside the car and covered his eyes with dark sunglasses to prevent him from seeing where they were going.

The defendants drove to a sandy area and repeatedly beat M.I. then stole his moneybag. Then they dropped him and fled.

According to the primary ruling, the seven accused will be deported.

One of the Pakistani defendants, 31-year-old R.S., told the court: “I only stole Dh1 million.”

The marketing manager said he was kidnapped and forced into a heavily tinted car shortly after he walked out from a bank.

“The defendants stopped me while I was walking to my car. One of them spoke in Arabic saying I was wanted by the police. They presented what seemed to me a police ID. They handcuffed me and made me wear dark sunglass to block my vision. When I felt that the car moved on an unsteady road, I realised that I was being robbed. One of them threatened to kill me and said he would fire a bullet in my head if I did not stop talking. After they dropped me off in the middle of nowhere… I shook my head and the sunglasses fell down. I managed to see the car plate number before it went distant,” M.I. claimed.

An Emirati police captain said one of the defendants, M.A., was identified from the car plate number. The defendants were arrested one at a time and in different emirates such as Ajman, Sharjah, Abu Dhabi and Dubai.

Tuesday’s judgment remains subject to appeal within 15 days.