DUBAI // Two Russians kidnapped a Ukrainian tourist after offering her a lift home before assaulting her and stealing her passport.
The men, aged 30 and 34, were convicted of kidnap, physical assault and robbery by Dubai Criminal Court and jailed for two years each.
On January 13 this year one of the men approached the woman in Bur Dubai and asked if she knew any good shops to buy clothes for his wife.
“He figured I was Ukrainian and started chatting in Russian and told me he was also a tourist,” said the woman, adding that as she was about to leave he asked her where she was staying and offered her a ride home.
“He was very nice and being from Russia I felt safe and got into his car but he had a friend in the car,” said the victim.
When they drove past Al Rafaa where she was staying the woman told the driver to stop the car. He ignored her and carried on until they reached an area in Ajman, where one of the men slapped her and tried to strangle her with her hair.
The men then took her bag which contained her passport and demanded she pay them Dh5,000.
“They gave me a piece of paper with an email address written on it and said that I should contact them regarding payment to get my passport back,” said the woman, who was then thrown out of the car.
She walked to the nearest road and flagged down a car. The Emirati driver took her home after she explained what had happened, after which she called police.
An Emirati policeman said the men were arrested at their home in Ajman. “We found several passports from unknown women with them,” said the officer.
Both men denied all of the charges against them in court in April. However, they were found guilty and will be deported after serving their jail terms.
salamir@thenational.ae
