Dubai kidnappers who forced family into ransom payment jailed

DUBAI // Four men who kidnapped an investor and forced his family to pay a Dh17,000 ransom were today sentenced to three years in prison.

The men, who are all from Bangladesh, lured their compatriot FS, 32, to a Deira restaurant on January 21 this year on the pretext of a business meeting.

After the meal they invited him to their home where they locked him up, stole Dh3,000 from him and threatened to throw him from the roof of the building.

He was moved to a flat in Sharjah the following morning and was beaten when he tried to cry for help.

The investor called his sister in Australia and asked her to wire Dh17,000 to a brother of one of the kidnappers in Bangladesh. When the brother received the ransom money, the kidnappers forced the investor to sign a letter saying that he owed one of them Dh16,000 before letting him go.

The investor immediately headed to a police station and reported the incident.

The Criminal Court ordered that the four men AH, 39, JM, 29, AA, 26 and AK, 48, must be deported after completing their jail terms.

salamir@thenational.ae