Labourer 'electrocuted and robbed'

DUBAI // A man posing as a CID officer used an electric cattle prod to attack and rob two labourers, a court heard on Monday.

MK, an unemployed 26-year-old Emirati, denies assaulting the two Bangladeshi workers while visiting a house in Hor Al Anz, Deira, in November.

The attack was said to have taken place at a place where labourers gathered to make Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP) telephone calls to their home countries. The use of VOIP calls is prohibited in law.

JH, a painter, said he had been calling his family when he noticed MK standing in front of him with another man. "After I finished with the call MK asked me for ID and presented a card claiming he was a CID officer," he said.

MK then took the man's wallet and removed Dh350. "I pleaded with him and told him that I was poor and that this money was for my family but he took out the long electric machine and shocked me with it," said JH.

The painter was knocked to the floor by the jolt.

MS, a floor cleaner, said he too had been robbed.

"The defendants then locked us in the room and kept us there for a few minutes before MK returned with a sword and started wielding it and scaring us," MS said.

JH and MS then ran away and contacted police.

Officers say that when they arrived they found MK loading the VOIP devices and computers into his car. They say his accomplice managed to escape.

MK was charged with two counts of theft, assault and impersonation of a public official at the Dubai Criminal Court of First Instance.

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