Dubai Police officer handed jail term after 'arresting' man to help friend recover debt

The victim was told he would be assaulted if he didn't sign a document admitting he owed Dh132,000

A police officer who 'arrested' a man and threatened to have him beaten up to help a friend settle a cash dispute has been handed a three-year jail sentence.

The Dubai Police corporal held the Iranian man, 24, against his will and forced him to sign a statement admitting he owed the officer's friend Dh132,000.

The officer, 49, also from Iran, and a fellow policeman, 52, approached the man in the reception area of a hotel in Naif, Dubai, on April 28.

The police officers drove him to a business office in the area, where the friend of the corporal, an Indian businessman, 48, was waiting.

“I was at a hotel in the Naif area when the two came in police uniforms and took me to the patrol car,” said the victim.

“When I first refused to sign the note, the policeman handcuffed me saying he will take me to jail where I will be repeatedly assaulted.”

The victim signed the note and was then was then taken back to his hotel, where the Iranian officer stole Dh19,000 worth of valuables from him.

Once the officers left, he alerted his father before reporting the incident to police.

The 52-year-old officer was summoned and admitted the crime but said his colleague was friends with the businessman who called him and asked him to threaten the victim.

In court in July, the Indian businessman denied a charge of threatening the victim into signing a debt note while the Iranian officer denied illegally arresting the victim, aiding a crime and illegally providing official information or data to the businessman.

Both of them were convicted of all charges during a hearing on Wednesday and sentenced to three years in prison each, to be followed by deportation.

The 52-year-old policeman was referred to the misdemeanours court to face a charge of failing to report a crime to authorities.