Picture used for illustrative purpose only.

Mohammed Yassen, Staff Reporter

The Dubai Court of Appeal upheld a judgment issued by the Court of First Instance, sentencing a gang of seven persons, including a Gulf Arab, to three years in prison and fining them SAR1.8 million or the equivalent amount in the UAE currency on the charge of luring an Asian investor and stealing that amount after assaulting him.

Six out the seven convicts would be deported after serving their jail terms, the Court ruled.

The convicts reportedly lured the victim by promising him to exchange his money against the UAE dirham at a rate higher than the one available in the exchange companies.

The incident took place to last November, when an Asian investor lodged a complaint with the police stating that he and his partner had been robbed and assaulted by a gang of different nationalities in Al Mamzar area of Dubai.

The investor told the prosecution that he had asked his partner before the incident to help him contact a person working in currency exchange in order to exchange nearly two million SAR at a higher rate than that one in the exchange firms.

The investor’s partner got a contact of those involved in the robbery and both negotiated with him to exchange the entire amount at a higher rate, followed by arranging the details of meeting to complete the deal, the victim added.

He continued, “When we attended the specified place, we found three persons waiting for us, and one of them asked us to hand him over the money and get into his car, but I refused and asked to walk to place of exchanging the money.”

As the investor’s partner accompanying the suspects heading to a place to exchange the money, he was stopped by other two suspects, who claimed that they were cops.

They forced him to get into a car in which others, including a Gulf Arab, were already sitting. They assaulted him and stole the money and ran away.

The victims were able to memorise the plate number of the car and reported the police. 

A police officer stated that a criminal investigation team was able through the intensified search to identify the convicts and arrested the Gulf Arab from his house and found one million Saudi riyals in his possession . He admitted that the amount was his share of the stolen money.

The rest of the suspects were arrested as well, as the police found also in their possession amounts in SAR and the UAE currency. They all confessed to their involvement in the crime.