30-year-old man faces jail for impersonation

Ihab Atta, Staff Reporter

A 30-year-old Arab employee posted an ad on Facebook, impersonating a UAE national, claiming his ability to obtain labour and visit visas and residency cards in return for money.

The suspect was charged with falsifying official documents and seizing Dhs4,500 from a woman.

Investigations by the Dubai Public Prosecution found that the victim’s friend wanted to obtain a visit visa for her husband.

The victim had seen an ad on Facebook by someone claiming to be able to obtain visas and residency.

While contacting him, he told her the visa will be in return for money.

He allegedly gave the victim a mobile phone number of a person who claimed he was an officer at the Department of Residency and Foreigners Affairs.

The victim contacted him and they agreed on all the procedures and the required documents which she provided him with. After some time, he asked her for the agreed amount, but she refused to hand it over before she obtained the visa. A few days later, he sent her a copy of a visit visa on WhatsApp.

The victim sent the money to the person impersonating the officer through a money transfer office.

The woman headed to one of the Department of Naturalisation and Residency branches to confirm the validity of the visa, where it turned out that the visa number was correct, but it belonged to an Asian and not to the person who she requested the visa for.

Separately, the Dubai Criminal Court accepted a request for the release of a GCC national sentenced to life in jail, after serving 15 years.

The detainee provided a proof of his good behaviour inside penal institutions, adding that he had memorised parts of the Holy Quran.

The convict was charged with premeditatedly setting fire to the Bur Dubai Police detention centre, to give detainees the opportunity to flee.

The crime resulted in the death of 14 detainees of different nationalities and the injury of 15 others.

Details date back to October 2001, when the convict connived with drug addicts to set fire to a sponge furniture inside the Bur Dubai police station to provoke riots and give detainees the opportunity to flee.

The policemen took control of the situation and foiled the criminal attempt, but they, with the director of the police station sustained bruises, and others suffered fatigue from inhaling smoke from the fire.

The convict also attached a report from the Community Development Authority proving he had benefited from his imprisonment and that he was a good person.

The report recommended a chance for him to coexist with his family and the community.