Gulf News

Jobseeker loses bag containing cash, documents

INDIAN VISITOR’S BACKPACK GOES MISSING DURING BUS TRIP TO RAS AL KHAIMAH

- DUBAI BY SHAFAAT SHAHBANDAR­I Staff Reporter

Ayoung Indian jobseeker is stranded after his bag containing cash, passport and other documents mysterious­ly disappeare­d during a bus trip to Ras Al Khaimah.

Ashif Mohammad, who came to the UAE on April 19 in search of a job, was relocating to Ras Al Khaimah from Dubai on June 1 when during the bus trip his bag disappeare­d.

“For the first five weeks of my stay in the UAE I was living in Dubai, then some of my friends invited me to live with them in Ras Al Khaimah, so on June 1 I got on the Al Hamra Transport bus and on the way I fell asleep. I was travelling with three trolley bags and a backpack.

“I kept the backpack on the rack and when I reached the bus station in Ras Al Khaimah I forgot to pick my backpack, but when I returned within a few minutes to retrieve the backpack the station was closed,” said Mohammad, who was travelling on the last bus of the day.

According to Ashif, the backpack contained his life’s worth of items, including his passport, Indian ID Card, original university and school certificat­es, a laptop, a mobile phone as well as 40,000 Indian rupees.

The 28-year-old from Kerala went back to the station early in the morning but couldn’t locate his bag and the station manager demanded a police report to look into the CCTV footage.

“I have been running around for almost two weeks now without any help. Nobody is trying to understand my situation. The bus station people are asking for a police report, the police in Ras Al Khaimah are asking for my original passport to register a complaint, when I tell them

I have been running around for almost two weeks now without any help. Nobody is trying to understand my situation. The bus station people are asking for police report.”

Ashif Mohammad | Indian visitor

I have lost the passport, they asked me to come back with my sponsor and my sponsor is not cooperatin­g,” said Mohammad, who has now got a lost passport complaint registered at Al Muraqqabat police station in Dubai.

The commerce graduate, who worked with an event management firm in his native city, says his tourist visa expires on July 19 and is wondering if he would be able to get out of the country without his documents.

“I have lost everything, my passport, ID, original certificat­es and a lot of other stuff. I am not sure how I will get a job without anything or how will I go back. All I ask for is for the police to give a letter for the bus station operators to see the CCTV so that we can find out who stole the bag,” added Mohammad.

 ?? Shafaat A. Shahbandar­i/Gulf News ??
Shafaat A. Shahbandar­i/Gulf News

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