DUBAI // Men posing as police officers raided a house before kidnapping two people and holding them for a Dh28,000 ransom, a court heard yesterday.
Prosecutors said the men burst into a house in Hor Al Anz on December 11 last year claiming they were looking for a man who had swindled them in a car sale.
They flashed cards identifying themselves as CID officers.
“I asked to have a look at the ID card but they slapped me instead,” recalled B?M, a clerk from Pakistan who was living in the house. “They asked me about a person named Ali, an Indian, and told me they gave him money for a car and that he disappeared. They claimed I knew his whereabouts and said I must go with them to Ras Al Khaimah.”
The bogus police officers then dragged him to their car before returning for his compatriot and friend W?B, 29, a salesman.
They drove the two to an old townhouse in Ras Al Khaimah and locked them in a room.
The hostages convinced the kidnappers to let them call a friend to ask for money. The clerk called his housemate B?A, a painter and also from Pakistan, and asked him to pay a Dh4,000 ransom.
But after the painter delivered the money he received another call from the men asking for a further Dh24,000.
“At this point I decided to report the case to the police,” he said.
Police told the painter to agree to meet one of the kidnappers and hand over the ransom money, which they supplied. When the kidnapper took the money police arrested him.
A few hours later two other kidnappers handed themselves in, with the hostages, at Al Muraqabat police station.
"They realised how serious the crime they carried out was and decided to hand themselves in," said E?A, an Emirati police officer.
Other men who took part have not yet been caught.
The three men told police they kidnapped the clerk because he owed them money and they believed he was about to leave the country without repaying them.
The Criminal Court charged the Indians F?K, 23, I?B, 29, and W?B, 29, with kidnapping.
I?B and W?B were also charged with theft.
None of the men appeared in court and the case was adjourned to June 25.
wissa@thenational.ae
