Tourist leaps from hotel window when bogus police break in

A woman jumped out of her hotel window after two bogus police officers barged their way into her room at night.

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DUBAI // A tourist jumped out of a  hotel window after two bogus police officers broke into her room, a court heard yesterday.
E?Z, 32, from Russia, leapt from her second-floor room in Jebel Ali after two men claiming to be CID officers broke down her door on June 7.

The tourist said she kept the door on its chain and refused to fully open it to the two men.

They allegedly threatened her  by saying: "If you don't open your door you will see what you have never seen in your life."
E?Z, who was in the country legally, was alarmed when the men started to break in and jumped out of the window in a bid to escape.  She tried to hang on to a rope but fell to the ground, bruising various parts of her body. She was treated at Rashid Hospital.

M?A, 23, an unemployed Emirati, and S?M, 22, a clerk from Syria, have been charged with impersonating police officers, trespassing and unintentionally risking the woman’s safety.

Neither appeared before the Dubai Misdemeanours Court to enter a plea.

The prosecution said M?A had denied threatening the woman. They added that his alleged accomplice, S?M, had confessed to posing as a policeman, saying he did so to scare the woman into having sex.

He told investigators he met the Emirati in 2007 and they became friends. “Our first impersonation act was about six months before we were caught for this crime,” said S?M.

He added that the pair had previously been punished for impersonating police officers.

The Syrian said they targeted the woman as they believed she was a prostitute. They purchased handcuffs and walkie-talkies as part of their disguise.

“We headed to the hotel in Jebel Ali and M?A showed the hotel manager a naturalisation and residency department ID of his from the time when he worked for them,” said the accused.

The next hearing will be on April 26 to summon the defendants.

salamir@thenational.ae