ABU DHABI // Three men kidnapped a man at knifepoint before forcing him to sell his car and pay them the proceeds, a court heard yesterday.
The Abu Dhabi Criminal Court heard that two Emirati men and one Yemeni tricked MA, whose nationality was not mentioned, into meeting them in the car park of a mall by sending him BlackBerry messages claiming to be from a woman.
When the man arrived MO, FN and AK were waiting and threatened him with a bladed weapon before forcing him into the car and driving him to Al Ain, where he was forced to sell his car and pay them the Dh18,000 proceeds.
Two of the men - MO and AK - are in custody and appeared in court yesterday, but the other man is on the run.
Both MO and AK pleaded not guilty, claiming they had taken the man to a police station. "He said we kidnapped him - how did we kidnap him if we took him ourselves to the police station? Why would we take him there so he can report us?" asked MO.
Chief Justice Sayed Abdul Baseer, head of the court, said the police records showed they took him to mall and not to a police station.
"No we took him to the police station in Al Murour," insisted MO.
The case was adjourned until 29 May to hear the testimony from the kidnapped man.
hdajani@thenational.ae
