DUBAI // A distraught family are appealing to the public for information about a father who disappeared while working more than two years ago.
Mohammed Omer Mateen, who would be 31 now, has been missing since March 2, 2014. That day he and a company driver took Dh1.5 million in cheques from his telecoms and IT infrastructure company in Jumeirah Lakes Towers to a branch of Mashreq Bank.
The driver was later caught with some of the money and jailed, but Mr Mateen’s family do not believe he would abscond and leave behind his wife and daughter, who is now three and a half years old.
Nida Omer, Mr Mateen’s wife, said she had no idea what happened to him.
“I feel doomed and my daughter asks me, ‘where is my father?’ and, in the very next moment, she says, ‘my abu [father] is in mama’s mobile’. She keeps scrolling through her father’s pictures,” said Mrs Omer, who left the UAE for Pakistan weeks after her husband’s disappearance.
“Sometimes she remains quiet for days, and when the teacher in her school asks about her father, she weeps.
“My parents-in-law are taking care of us but we miss Omer. I cry loudly sometimes. We are all in continuous agony and extreme suffering.”
Mrs Omer asked for anyone with information about her husband to come forward.
“I request people in the UAE to help and kindly share any tangible information … to end the misery of old, sick parents and his little daughter. Pain is evident on our faces,” she said.
Pakistan’s embassy in Dubai said it had been in touch with Dubai Police about Mr Mateen.
A spokesman said local authorities said Mr Mateen was in Pakistan, not in the UAE. He also said the embassy had informed Mr Mateen’s father.
However, Qurban Hussain, Mr Mateen’s father, said he did not believe that his son was in Pakistan.
Mr Hussain has spent 4 million Pakistani rupees (Dh140,240) in the past two years on legal aid and travelling between Pakistan and the UAE.
“His passport was at home the day he disappeared,” he said. “Whether alive or otherwise, we believe he is in the UAE.
“I fear that something wrong has happened to my son.
“I don’t want to even think about it but I fear that someone might have kidnapped or even killed him for money.
“We are in an extreme state of stress and anxiety. These two years have been terrible for us. We just want to know whether our son is dead or alive.”
Mr Mateen’s company, Rustam Extreme Solutions, declared to the police that he had absconded with the money. It declined to comment on the matter.
Mrs Omer said her husband earned Dh6,000 a month but “despite working hard, day and night, my husband used to face salary delays for months”.
“He used to be upset because the office environment was very stressful and humiliating,” she said.
Dubai Police would not comment on the case, which remains under investigation.
akhaishgi@thenational.ae
