Picture used for illustrative purpose only.

Mohammed Yaseen, Staff Reporter

The Dubai Criminal Court sentenced an African, 35, to three years in jail and fined him Dhs67,000 on charges of luring an Asian through a fake massage centre on Facebook.

The defendant was also charged with stealing Dhs600 and two ATM cards, with which the defendant withdrew sums of money and bought stuffs worth Dhs66,000.

He will be deported after serving his jail term.

The defendant, who was caught and referred to the competent authorities, was assisted by two others who are still at large.

The case dates back to October last year when an Asian filed a complaint in which he stated that he had been robbed under duress and assaulted inside an apartment in Al Baraha in Dubai.

According to his testimony in the investigations, the victim saw a photo of a European blonde woman in an ad for a massage centre on Facebook. Consequently, he contacted the centre to avail of its services against Dhs300 per massage session.

As soon as he arrived at the centre, the victim was surprised by an African man assaulting him from behind and holding him tightly with the help of two accomplices.

The defendants forced him to go into an apartment in the same floor, where they assaulted him and stole Dhs600 as well as two ATM cards from his wallet and his mobile phone.

The gang members kept beating him until he had to give them the pins of his two ATM cards, the victim said, adding that then they left the apartment after tying his hands and feet.

Several hours later, one of them returned to give the victim his mobile phone and wallet and fled away, the victim added, noting that he kept crawling on the ground until he reached his wallet, from which he took out a piece of metal and untied his hands.

The victim discovered that the gang members used the cards three times to withdraw money and six times to buy stuffs from a store. He then reported the incident to the police.

A policeman testified in the investigations that a team of detectives gathered inferences, as a result of which one suspect was identified and arrested.

On interrogation, the suspect denied the charge but the victim could identify him in the police lineup.

The in-place surveillance cameras showed that he was involved in the crime and in other previously reported crimes in which he used the same modus operandi.