DUBAI // Three men posed as Dubai policemen to gain entry into a woman’s home before stealing almost Dh80,000 in cash, as well as mobile phones and jewellery, and threatening to kill her, Dubai Criminal Court heard on Tuesday.
Prosecutors said that on June 15 this year Palestinians A J, 22, and M M, 19, and Jordanian S S, 19, 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 peep hole and saw a man raising an ID. I opened up only to see three men, two of whom were carrying swords,” G A said. “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 fleeing 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,” G A said, adding that after the men had taken the money one of them kicked her in the head.
The court heard that during the robbery the defendants 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 police less than an hour after the men left.
Two were arrested the following morning after being tracked down at a hotel in Ajman. The third defendant was found after officers were given his contact information by the other defendants.
The men confessed that M M had picked up the woman’s address from a massage website, police officer S A, 39, told the court.
“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 men denied robbery, issuing threats to kill, and trespassing while S S denied impersonating a police officer and A J and M M denied aiding and abetting the Jordanian.
The next hearing will be on October 14.
salamir@thenational.ae