Photo used for illustrative purpose only.

Mohammed Yaseen, Staff Reporter

The Dubai Criminal Court sentenced an African woman to two years in jail to be followed by deportation and fined her Dhs30,000 on charges of luring an Asian to a fake massage centre, where he was detained and assaulted before the same amount of the fine was stolen from his debit card under duress. The defendant did so with the help of three others who are still at large.

The case dated back to September last year when an Asian filed a complaint in which he stated that he had been assaulted and robbed under duress by a gang of four African women. According to his statement in the investigations, he called a number that belonged to a massage centre, which posted an ad on social media, and agreed with the phone number owner to visit the centre to benefit from some services.

As soon as he arrived on time at the centre, he was surprised by an African woman pushing him inside the apartment and three other women waiting for him with sticks in their hands. After assaulting him, the women forced him to give them his debit card and PIN, after which one of them left the centre to withdraw the money while the others continued to assault and photograph him.

Immediately after the woman returned, the defendants allowed him to leave but threatened him to post his photos on social media if he reported the incident to the police. A policeman stated in the investigations that a team of detectives gathered inferences and managed to locate the fake centre, which was found to be an apartment leased by an African man, who was outside the UAE at the time.

The detectives also found that one of the suspects was available in a neighbouring emirate and consequently they arrested her. She confessed to having participated with others to lure men through an ad showing a European woman offering massaging services.