DUBAI // A gang who threatened to kill a shopkeeper's son if he did not pay them Dh40,000 were yesterday sentenced to one year in prison each.
The gang, five Pakistanis aged between 25 and 49, entered the shop on October 3 last year and asked the shopkeeper where his son was.
"When I told them he was present, they asked me to pay them Dh40,000 or they would kill him," recalled the shopkeeper HO, 61, from Pakistan.
After making the threat they left and the shopkeeper asked one of his employees to follow them and find out where they lived.
"My employee came back and told me he managed to identify one of them who turned out to be a neighbour who worked for Dubai Police as a tailor," said the shopkeeper.
He then called his son MA, 29, and told him what had happened. However, the son ignored him, until he received a phone call telling him to pay the money or he would be killed.
"The man on the phone said he would send Pakistani men from all over Dubai to kill me," recalled the son, who reported the threats to police.
In the Criminal Court, the men denied charges of issuing threats to kill and blackmail but were found guilty.
All will be deported after serving their jail terms.
