Picture used for illustrative purpose only.

Mohammed Yaseen, Staff Reporter

The Dubai Court of First Instance sentenced a gang of four Asians to three years in jail to be followed by deportation and fined them Dhs42,000 for kidnapping an Asian woman after assaulting her, stripping her of her clothes and stealing Dhs42,000 through a digital currency transfer.

The Court of Appeal, however, commuted the jail term from three years to two years and upheld the fine and deportation.

The case dates back to August last year when an Asian woman filed a complaint in which she stated that she had been kidnapped, assaulted and robbed.

According to the victim’s statement, one of the gang members contacted her to buy a digital currency and agreed with her on a place to carry out the deal.

The victim stated in the interrogations that she arrived at the agreed place in Dubai Investment Park, where she saw a man coming to her vehicle and followed by three others including a driver who previously worked in a company that she owned.

The gang members assaulted her and demanded that she transfer her money to an account in their home country.

One of the defendants grabbed her mobile phone and opened her digital currency trading app and transferred funds to accounts that belonged to the defendants, she told.

He then opened a social networking app and asked one of her clients to transfer a digital currency worth 100,000 to her account but the client requested a grace period to do so, she added.

The victim stated in the interrogations that the gang members continued to assault her and electrocuted her before they stripped her of her clothes and photographed her in order to blackmail her.

Several hours, later, they left her on the side of a street after handcuffing her and placing a plastic bag on her face, she said, adding that after she managed to untie her hands, she called the police.

A policeman stated that a team of detectives managed to identify the gang members after gathering inferences and checking the surveillance cameras..

The team arrested the defendants and after searching their residence, they found an electric shocker and video clips showing the woman stripped of clothes with traces of torture and assault.

One of the defendants admitted that he was previously working as a driver for the victim and knew that she was investing in digital currencies.

He agreed with the other defendants to lure the victim using a fake deal to buy digital currencies, he added.

The other members of the gang also confessed to their involvement in the crime.