DUBAI // Three men who fooled a good Samaritan into a meeting by asking for help to pay a hospital bill and then kidnapped, assaulted and forced him to write cheques for more than Dh400,000 will be jailed for a year each.
A 48-year-old Indian defendant called the victim, an Indian businessman, 42, on August 23 last year to ask for his help paying for his wife’s treatment.
“I agreed to help and we met at a cafe in Al Rigga to hand him the cash,” said the businessman.
When he met the defendant, the two other men, a 37-year-old Indian and a Bangladeshi, 35, also showed up. All three restrained him and pushed him into a 4x4 before assaulting him.
“They demanded I issue them two cheques - one for Dh380,000 and the other for Dh25,000. I told them I didn’t have my chequebook but they forced me to call my wife and have her prepare two cheques then two of them went to pick them up,” said the victim, who signed both cheques.
“My husband called me and told me to prepare two cheques and two men will come to take them, which I did,” said the businessman’s 37-year-old wife.
The three men then assaulted him again, stole Dh400 he was carrying and a Hublot watch valued at Dh19,000.
The victim reported the incident to police a month later.
The three men were arrested and during questioning allegedly confessed to charges of confinement and theft.
At Dubai Criminal Court, the three defendants denied the charges but they were convicted of all charges and will be deported after completing their sentences.
salamir@thenational.ae
