Picture used for illustrative purpose only.

Mohammed Yaseen, Staff Reporter

A gang of two Africans stole Dhs50,000 from a European after luring him with a massage centre ad on Facebook, assaulting him and threatening to kill him.

One of the defendants was arrested and referred to the Dubai Public Prosecution and from there to the Dubai Criminal Court, which sentenced him in presence and his accomplice in absentia to three years in jail to be followed by deportation and fined them the same amount they had stolen.

The case dates back to June last year when a European filed a complaint in which he stated an African gang assaulted him, threatened to kill him and stole Dhs50,000 from his ATM card.

According to the victim, an African gang managed to lure him to a massage centre in Al Rifa’ah area and then assaulted him, threatened to kill him and stole his money.

The victim added that he saw an ad on Facebook for a centre that was offering massage services to interested people.

He called the number mentioned in the ad and the woman who answered his phone call gave him a date for the massage service and sent him the location of the centre and the building number.

The victim said he arrived on time at the place where he met an African woman who asked him to enter the apartment.

There, he saw a number of women and three African men, who assaulted him and threatened to kill him with a knife if he would not give them the money he had and his ATM card.

He tried to resist but they kept assaulting him, stripped him of his clothes and took his ATM card and its pin.

They stole Dhs50,000 from his bank account before they left him inside the massage centre and left the place.

According to the official documents, a team of detectives managed to identify two of the suspects and to arrest one of them.

On interrogation, the suspect confessed to having collaborating with other Africans for luring those interested in massage sessions through Facebook ads and stealing their money through their ATM cards.

He also admitted that his share of the operation was Dhs3,500. The other suspect is still at large.