DUBAI // A father and son loan-shark team were sent to jail for three months yesterday.
M J K, 56, and M K, 36, ran an illegal money-lending business in which they would charge 10 per cent interest on loans to desperate borrowers.
They would confiscate the credit cards of debtors who could not repay the loans, and use them to withdraw large amounts of money.
The two were operating the business this year until May 2, when the father used a credit card to make several withdrawals in three hours from an ATM in Jumeirah.
Policeman A A, 26, arrested the father at the ATM. “When I arrested him, he had several credit cards in his pocket,” A A said.
The father had used more than 10 credit cards to withdraw large amounts that day.
When police searched his flat they arrested his son after finding 324 credit cards, Dh80,555 in cash, five passports, jewellery and watches that had been taken from debtors who failed to pay off their loans.
During their trial the Criminal Court heard from a worker who took a loan of Dh500 from the pair and was required to pay it back with Dh50 interest.
Both will be deported after completing their jail terms.
salamir@thenational.ae
