Workers who abducted and threatened boss charged

Dubai: Eleven penniless and angry workers have been charged with locking up their boss and threatening to kill him if he didn't give them Dh139,000 in unpaid salaries.

Records quoted the Indian boss alleging that the 11 suspects (four Indians and seven Sri Lankans) kidnapped him from his office in Naif and locked him up in a house in Satwa.

The supposed claimant, M.A., testified that some suspects kidnapped him, others beat him up while the rest threatened to kill him if he didn't pay them their unpaid salaries.

The Public Prosecution charged two Indian workers, 23-year-old S.R. and 46-year-old S.S., and 25-year-old Sri Lankan, S.P., with kidnapping M.A. and locking him up against his will in a house in Satwa.

According to the arraignment sheet, the three were also charged with using knives and threatening to kill the claimant if he refused to pay. They were additionally charged with robbing M.A.'s cheque books, mobile phone, Dh1,000 and personal documents.

The rest of the suspects were charged with conspiring and failing to report the alleged crime to the police.

Six of the suspects appeared before Presiding Judge Fahmi Mounir of the Dubai Court of First Instance yesterday and pleaded not guilty.

S.R. argued: "I am not guilty& I didn't do it."

Another suspect said when he defended himself: "That's absolutely untrue& I am innocent."

In his statement to the Public Prosecution, M.A. claimed: "Ten people came to my office in Naif & S.R. carried a knife. They asked me to give them my passport and cheque books. They threatened me and I had to leave with them at knife point. I was locked up in two different houses in Satwa for two days.

"They monitored me in shifts and they ordered me to sign a cheque worth Dh139,000."