Dubai trio who posed as police to rob woman’s home jailed

The men were charged with robbery and making threats to kill the occupant of the home. One of the attackers was sentences to two years in jail, while the other two were each given a year.

DUBAI // Three men were jailed on Sunday for posing as Dubai police officers to gain entry to a woman’s home and stealing up to Dh80,000 in cash, mobile phones and jewellery and then threatening to kill her.

The trio were convicted of all charges by Dubai Criminal Court. Palestinian A  J, 22, was jailed for two years, while accomplices M M, 19, also Palestinian, and Jordanian S S, 19, were each jailed for one year.

Prosecutors said that on June 15, the men called at the home of G A, a 32-year-old Uzbek who lived in Al Nahda.

“I asked who was it, and one said ‘police’, so I looked through the peephole and saw a man raising an ID. I opened up only to see three men, two of whom were carrying swords,” said G A.

“One placed the sword to my neck and ordered me to sit on the floor before they asked me where my money was. When I said I had no money, one of them struck me with the sword on my shoulder.”

The men searched her flat for almost five hours before taking off with more than Dh78,000 in cash, mobile phones, an iPad and jewellery.

“Dh55,000 of the cash stolen was for a friend of mine who gave it to me to rent her a flat,” said G A. She said that after the men took the money, one of them kicked her in the head.

During the robbery the men ate and smoked as they took turns watching G A.

“One asked to have sex with me but I cried and then he took my phone number,” said G A, who called the police after they left.

Two were arrested the next day after being tracked down at a hotel in Ajman. The third man was found after the other robbers disclosed his contact information.

The men confessed that M M had picked up the address from a massage website, police officer S A, 39, said.

“They said that most of the women working in massage centres are prostitutes and fear calling the police if they are robbed,” the officer said.

“They also said that they called her and agreed to go and have sex with her for Dh300 from each one, so she gave them the address to her flat.”

All three denied robbery, issuing threats to kill and trespassing. S S denied impersonating a police officer, and A J and M M denied aiding and abetting him.