Dubai: A woman who blackmailed several men in a dating app scam plunged to her death from a Dubai hotel when she tried to escape police arrest.
According to the Dubai Court of First Instance, an Indian victim alerted Dubai Police about a hotel room used by a Nigerian gang to bring massage seekers, blackmail them and steal their money.
When officers arrived at the hotel at Al Barsha last November, three Nigerian men and three Nigerian women tried to escape. One woman fell from the balcony in the escape bid.
A Nigerian man sustained serious injuries and multiple fractures when he fell from the balcony. The records didn’t point to the floor from which they jumped.
A 25-year-old Emirati policeman testified that an Indian man reported the Nigerian gang after they lured him through online advertisement about a “beautiful woman providing massage services”.
“We knocked on the door and the first defendant opened the door. The Indian man identified him but he resisted arrest and tried to escape. Another defendant also tried to escape by jumping from the balcony but he suffered serious injuries,” said the Emirati policeman in records.
The defendant managed to escape to a nearby building but he was yelling for help in pain.
“We called an ambulance and transferred him to hospital,” said the policeman.
The Nigerian woman, who also jumped from the balcony, died.
Dubai Police went into the apartment and found a British man in the bathroom.
The British victim claimed the Nigerian gang had stolen his mobile phone and Dh1,800 in cash after luring him through the dating app.
The gang dragged him inside the apartment and kept him locked inside the bathroom.
Dubai Public Prosecution have pressed charges against the three men and two women.
The next hearing in this case is scheduled for September 24.
