Businessman robbed in quest to meet belle

A gang ensnared a businessman into a room to meet a beautiful woman. They robbed him after threatening to break his legs. Two African men – a waiter, 28, and a cleaner, 26 – with the help of a fugitive countrywoman who posed as a Romanian belle lured the Emirati businessman, 49, to a hotel room in Al Mankhool on September 15.

They stole Dhs2,000 and his bankcard. They used the card to drain Dhs12,000 from his bank account. The Criminal Court jailed them for three years plus deportation. The Appeals Court has upheld the ruling.

In prosecution records, the businessman said a friend introduced him to a Romanian woman online. She sent him her photo and called him for a meeting inside her hotel room in Al Mankhool at around 3am.

An African woman opened for him and told him she was the Romanian’s housemaid. The room was dark. She told him the Romanian was bathing. There were sounds of water in the washroom. The businessman got convinced.

He sat waiting for her. Two African men came out of the washroom and asked him to hand over his mobile phones and wallet. They claimed they wanted to remove money he had promised to give her to pay her bills.

He got astonished. They kept talking to him in a friendly manner but he hesitated as he had already suspected the situation. They started asking him for his bankcard’s passcode. He refused to disclose it.

They sat at the room’s door to stop him from escaping. He was too scared and feared the worst would happen in case he attempted to escape.

The waiter vowed to break his legs unless he revealed the passcode.

He revealed it. The waiter and the African woman walked out of the room while two other men remained confining the businessman. The waiter and the woman later returned after withdrawing money.

They handed back his wallet and two mobile phones and disappeared. He contacted the police. He told Al Rifa’a Police Station investigators the gang took Dhs2,000 from his wallet and Dhs14,000 from his account.

A Yemeni police sergeant testified, “We arrested both men at the same hotel. They confessed to have confined and robbed several men using the same method of luring them to meet beautiful women,” he explained.