DUBAI // Three Sudanese men who were convicted of attempting to con an Omani out of US$75,000 by claiming to have magical powers to bring money down from the stars have lost an appeal against their sentences.
M S, 44, M A, 35, and A A, 41, were convicted of possessing fake bank notes supposedly worth US$465,300 (Dh1.7 million), as well as a charge of attempted fraud. They were all sentenced to three years in jail to be followed by deportation and were each fined Dh10,000.
H A, 42, from Oman, said three months before Ramadan last year he began receiving calls from one of the men claiming that he could make him rich.
“He told me that he had powers to bring money through the stars and that he was a famous religious man who had a great knowledge of astronomy,” said H A.
“He asked me for cash to buy holy water and other things to use in order to increase my money. I ignored him, but he kept calling and then he asked to meet me.”
Eventually, H A agreed to meet one of the men in Al Ain and was asked for Dh7,000 to buy the necessary materials. H A refused and left, but 20 days later one of the men called again and asked for another meeting.
“I went along and then he showed me something that looked like saffron and said that he had bought it for Dh3,500 so he could use it to increase my wealth,” said H A.
“He asked if I wanted to buy it but I again refused. He called me again at the beginning of Ramadan and so I called Dubai Police, who asked me to play along.”
H A was then contacted by a second man, who also promised to make him rich and initially asked for US$135,000 then agreed to US$75,000.
He told him the cash would be used to buy a chemical to remove a United Nations stamp from the hundreds of thousands of dollar bills he had in his possession.
“They showed me two bills with this stamp and then used a powder to clean off the black stamp. I informed the police who told me to proceed with the agreement so that they could arrest the men,” said H A.
On August 7 the three men were arrested in Al Baraha during a meeting with H A.
“One of them was seen heading to his car and picking up a box, which contained the fake dollars,” said A M A, 27, an Emirati police officer. “We arrested them although they resisted and tried to run away.”
All three defendants denied the charges in both criminal and appeal courts.
salamir@thenational.ae