'Car towing companies tricked by bogus bankers'

A car owner spotted a group of thieves attempting to tow her vehicle from the parking lot, hears court.

DUBAI // A group of men impersonated bank employees to dupe car recovery companies into towing away vehicles by saying their owners had defaulted on payments, the Dubai Criminal Court heard today.

Prosecutors said MN, 27, FA, 30, MA, 27 and AA, 36, would forge ownership certificates to back up their claims.

The men were alleged to have used this technique in attempting to steal the car of SM, a 31-year-old Egyptian sales executive, on the afternoon of June 16, from a parking area in Al Barsha.

The sales executive said that she was looking out of the window of her flat as her fiance left the building when she noticed her car was being towed.

"I asked my fiance to check it out as he was already downstairs and I got dressed and also went down," she said.

When she confronted the car recovery worker he showed her an ownership certificate with the car's details but the name of a different owner. She informed the worker that the vehicle belonged to her, gave him her registration details and told him to leave.

She was later contacted by police after they arrested four men suspected of involvement in a series of car thefts in Bur Dubai.

Police found 20 stolen vehicles when they raided a storage area in Sharjah that belonged to the men, according to court records.

The men, who are all from Pakistan, have been charged with attempted theft and forging official documents and stamps.

today only MN and MA appeared at court. They denied the charges.

The case was adjourned to July 12.