The Dubai Court ruled to imprison a gang in the UAE that robbed a resident of an Asian nationality, after luring him to a residential apartment using a woman's photo on the Internet.
The gang lured the Asian resident to one of the apartments to undergo a massage session, and he was robbed after being assaulted and forced to provide the secret numbers for his bank cards.
The Court of Appeal rejected the ruling issued by the court of first instance acquitting the gang formation consisting of three women and two men.
The defendants were imprisoned for two years and fined 44,000 dirhams
The offenders were imprisoned for two years and fined 44,900 dirhams for unlawful detention, forced theft, and violence by the Court of Appeal.
A massage service advertisement on Facebook was used to hold the victim illegally, according to the UAE Public Prosecution.
After the resident contacted the Qom advertisement agency via WhatsApp, they confirmed the advertisement's accuracy and invited him to the residence. After entering, they violently dragged him and closed the door.
Then they took his wallet and 900 dirhams. When he struggled, they assaulted him and stole his two bank cards from his wallet. They WhatsApped another accused with photos. He withdrew 44,000 dirhams.
An advertisement on the Internet carrying a picture of a European woman
Al-Majnabi revealed during the investigation that he spotted a European woman's Facebook ad offering 500 dirham massages on the day of the incident. Using WhatsApp, he requested the address and rang the doorbell when he arrived. Someone unlocked it for him.
A woman called him from behind the door and locked it when he entered. He said the woman seized him, two women of the same nationality brought him into a room, and a man searched him and found 900 dirhams.
They stole his phone against his will. He said he tried to resist them and get his things back, so they tied his legs, asked him to open the banking app on his phone, and forced him several times to transfer money from his account, but he couldn't, so they took his two bank cards out of the wallet and asked him for the PINs. He returned after 20 minutes to tell him the number was wrong, so he gave him the proper number.
The victim said the accused called one of the people, gave him the passwords for the two cards, and transmitted their images via WhatsApp. He returned 20 minutes later, requested the females to leave the flat, returned the wallet, bank cards, and phone, and departed.
After making sure the place was empty, he left, called his friends, told them what happened, and called the police. While at the center, he checked his bank account through the bank application and found that they had withdrawn money from his balance.
Arrest of the accused
A police witness reported that a team was formed to search for the perpetrators by tracking their criminal methods. Investigations revealed their involvement in multiple crimes at the time, and they were found in another emirate, where they were arrested.
The fifth accused, who was not in the flat, used the first bank card to take 14,500 dirhams from the ATM, while the second accused withdrew 29,500 and bought mobile phones online. The witness said the four criminal defendants were presented to the victim in a diagnostic queue, and he recognized them all. He noted that the criminals were arrested with money and mobile phones.
The court of first instance acquitted the five defendants due to its lack of confidence in the evidence and their denial. After the Public Prosecution appealed, the Court of Appeal found that the earlier ruling did not undermine the case and convicted and imprisoned the five defendants. Deported, fined 44,900 dirhams, and sentenced to two years. The case is still discriminatory.
