Robbers forcibly enter Dubai bank customer's car, flee with Dh63,000

Three visitors from Uzbekistan allegedly approached a bank customer sitting in his car, entered it by force and snatched about Dh63,000 from the envelope in his hand, the Dubai Criminal Court heard.

According to court records, on June 16, the accused men, identified as MM and SA, both aged 19, and SF, 35, decided to look for a prey amongst bank customers. They started by roaming around banks in a rented car.

When they saw a man with an envelope in hand coming out of a bank at around 11.45am in the Muraqqabat area, they followed him until he entered his car. When the bank customer was opening the door of his car, MM approached him and asked him the whereabouts of a hotel.

“Though I said I did not know the location of the hotel, the man jumped into my car and sat next to me. He then said he wanted to exchange dollars and pulled some notes from his pocket.

"I asked him to get out of my car. When I insisted that he should get out of my car, he punched me in the face several times with his fist. While he was hitting me, he tried to snatch the envelope which contained Dh130,000 which I had hidden between my legs. The Dh130,000 I collected from the bank belonged to my employer,” testified the victim.

In the fight, the envelope tore and currency notes fell out into the car. A third attacker arrived on the scene and started collecting notes from the car with the other two. Then the attackers fled.

The accused saw one of the attackers take a taxi from the opposite direction of the road. The 38-year-old Indian victim informed the police who came and arrested one of the attackers who was seen roaming around Muraqqabat Police Station in a rented car.

Searching him, police found a key of a room in a Sharjah hotel.The hotel management told the police that the accused was sharing a room with a compatriot who had left the hotel a few minutes earlier before their arrival.

However, police arrested the accused when he was on his way to Dubai. He admitted to the robbery and told police that after running away from the scene by taxi, he called the second accused several times but as his calls were not attended to, he realized that his accomplice may have been arrested. So he packed up and left the hotel.

The third attacker was arrested in his accommodation in Fujairah. The victim recognised the three attackers when they were shown to him in identification parades.

The Court will reconvene on October 22.

(Home page image for illustrative purpose only: Courtesy Shutterstock)

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