‘Massage parlours’ turn extortion dens
DUBAI AUTHORITIES WARN RESIDENTS AGAINST GOING TO ILLEGAL JOINTS PROMOTED ON ‘INDECENT’ BUSINESS CARDS
Legal and Court Correspondent
Men are increasingly falling victims to shady massage service centres run by African women gangs, ending up being filmed naked, blackmailed and robbed.
Dubai’s law enforcement authorities have constantly cautioned men against going to dubious places that are being promoted as massage parlours on business cards distributed in streets, posted on car windshields or slid under doorsteps.
“There has been an increase in the number of cases involving African women who lure men to massage parlours, strip them naked at knifepoint and assault them. Then they threaten to publish their nude pictures before stealing their cash ■ or credit cards,” a chief judge at Dubai’s criminal court told Gulf News.
He said a number African women, mostly visitors, have been caught engaging in this criminal activity, using the same modus operandi.
“In the past few weeks, Dubai prosecutors referred three cases of a similar nature to the Court of First Instance. Strangely, two of those cases were committed by the same four Nigerian women,” he added.
The four women, aged between 28 and 33, in two identical cases, lured two men for a massage in a flat and then locked them inside, beat and threatened them.
Prosecutors said the defendants breached the tourists’ modesty as they undressed and filmed them naked, and then threatened to kill them if they reported the matter to police. They stole Dh60,300 from the first victim and Dh4,500 from the second.
The chief judge warned the public against such criminal gangs and urged them to be judicious when choosing a massage parlour.
Meanwhile, Assistant Chief Prosecutor Ahmad Al Attar advised men not to go to unlicensed health spas or dubious massage parlours.
“All the pertinent authorities in Dubai have been cooperating to combat such illegal activities. Men should not fall victims to activities that are promoted on massage cards that contain indecent images. There are many licensed spas and health centres that men could visit for a massage or therapy. When someone sees a business card promoting massage services in a hotel or a flat, then obviously that person should be wary,” he told Gulf News.
Dubai Police recently arrested seven African women who lured victims to a massage parlour, stripped them naked, threatened to publish their nude pictures before stealing their cash.
In another case, two Nigerian female tourists, 32 and 33, lured a businessman for a massage and stole his Dh100,000 at knifepoint after confining him in a hotel room in Al Barsha.
Yet in another case, a 35-year-old Nigerian woman visitor lured an engineer for a massage at a flat via a Facebook advertisement, then stole his Dh179,000 after she threatened to kill him with a hot iron.