Duo locked up for mugging Dubai trader

Hamza M Sengendo, Staff Reporter

Two men who summoned a trader for a phone deal and mugged him inside a building’s stairway will spend three years in jail. The Asian dyer, 37, and an unemployed countryman, 45, with the help of fugitive cohorts lured and mugged the Asian victim at around 1:30pm on Mar.3 after convincing him they were whole sellers.

They claimed they had mobile phones they wanted to sell to him at a price less than their market value. They lured him inside the building with the prospect of taking him to their boss’s office upstairs.

Upon entering the building, they grasped and dragged him through the stairway until inside a room on the mezzanine floor. They confined him there while threatening to kill him unless he surrendered cash.

They snatched Dhs74, 000 from his bag and fled. The duo denied in court. The Criminal Court found them guilty and jailed them for three years plus deportation. The Appeals Court has upheld the penalty.

The victim narrated that he was standing outside a hotel in Naif area at around 1:30pm when a man showed up, presented several phones to him and asked him whether he would like to buy them.

They were iPhones and Samsung smartphones at prices of around Dhs800 each –less than the market value. “The man asked me to follow him to his employer’s office inside a building in Sabkha,” he said.

“Upon entering, two men suddenly pushed me from behind and one dragged me. They seized my legs, subdued me and forced me inside a room. There were five other men in the room and three women.

“They shut the door and grabbed my bag. They removed Dhs74, 000.” They repeatedly slapped and punched him for around an hour then let him out with threats to kill him if he told anyone about it.

Records showed the victim recognised the dyer and the countryman during an identity parade. The duo had entrusted an unsuspecting friend with keeping Dhs38, 750. Police recovered it from him.

Recently, two sales executives of a telecom company who faked documents to swindle 142 mobiles that were used to incur Dhs953, 680 in unpaid bills were imprisoned.

The Asian defendant, 30, and his colleague, 26, were working at the company’s outlet inside a trading centre in Al Rifa’a area when they committed the crimes between Jan.2016 and Jan.2017, prosecutors explained.

They illicitly accessed the company’s e-system, counterfeit transactions and sold out smartphone data plans to individuals and companies for their personal gains.