DUBAI // Three men who attacked a tourist and robbed him of more than Dh128,000 after he refused to take part in a gold-selling racket have been locked up for three years.
Canadian Y Q told prosecutors he was in Dubai in May last year to discuss a partnership in a gold-trading business with three men from Cameroon.
“I met them in Al Muraqqabat on May 21 last year and they said they would be bringing gold to the country and I would be selling it,” he said.
He told them that he would not take any gold unless it was brought through proper channels and had all of the necessary documents and permits, which the three did not like.
“At that moment one of them pulled my laptop bag but a security guard interfered and kicked the men out,” he said.
Y Q said a few days later, as he was walking to his hotel room, the three men attacked him and stole his bag, which contained Dh128,556 in cash, a laptop, his passport, mobile phone and documents.
E T, 27, M F, 26, and P K, 22, were convicted of robbery at the Dubai Criminal Court.
While E T denied the charge in court last August, his compatriots confessed to stealing Y Q’s bag but told judges it contained books, not cash.
The three men will be deported after serving their jail terms.
salamir@thenational.ae
