Six jailed for mugging man in hotel

Six African men who mugged an Asian merchant after luring him with the prospect of meeting an Emirati young woman were jailed for three years on Thursday.

The Nigerian waiter, technician, employee, labourer, unemployed man and cleaner (aged between 21 and 32) lured the victim inside the hotel room in Al Barsha on Sept.12, 2017.

They conined him and intimidated him into giving them the keycard of his room at another hotel and his safe’s code. They threatened to break his leg if he declined to comply.

They went there, opened the safe and snatched his $2,900, Dhs1,000 and a Rolex watch worth $7,000. They forcibly undressed him and used the technician’s mobile to take explicit photos.

They denied the charges during court questioning. The Dubai Criminal Court found them guilty and sentenced them to three years behind bars to be followed by deportation.

On the record, the victim complained to a police detective that he was online when he got in contact with a supposed Emirati young woman. She summoned him for a tryst inside the hotel room.

Upon entering the room an African woman (a fugitive) showed up, welcomed him and shut the door. Two African men and another woman jumped out the washroom. They ixed him in their grip.

They frisked him and snatched Dhs100 from his wallet. They also took out his bank card and demanded to know its PIN. One of them rushed to an ATM machine but failed to withdraw money.

The card was yet to be activated. They forced him to surrender his hotel room’s keycard. They asked for his safe’s code and threatened to break his leg if he gave them a wrong code to the safe.

A man and a woman went to the room and returned after one hour and a half. They handed him his wallet and mobile phone and sent him away. He went to his room and found the safe ransacked.

Police stormed the gang’s room and apprehended the six who confessed to have lured, conined, threatened and robbed various men with the same modus operandi, said the police detective.