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28 March 2024

Bollywood movie inspired terror plot

Dubai authorities with terror attacks will face up to seven years in prison. (GETTY IMAGES)

Published
By Eman Al Baik

A desperate debtor who hatched a plan to blackmail Dubai authorities with terror attacks will face up to seven years in prison.

He claims he got the idea from a Bollywood movie.

The 31-year-old Pakistani called police stationed at Dubai International Airport and demanded Dh1 million, saying he would blow up shopping malls and skyscrapers he was not paid.

He also demanded that three of his friends be released from prison.

However, his plan backfired when the cops traced his call and raided his home in Sharjah.

The blackmailer told them he had learned about explosives and how to talk tough from a Bollywood film he had recently watched.

The defendant appeared at Dubai Court of First Instance yesterday to face a charge of threatening Dubai Police.

The incident happened last August when a receptionist at Dubai International Airport received a call from a man who demanded to talk to police. The call was put through to a lieutenant.

“I took the call and he threatened to blow up Dubai,” the 31-year-old Emirati said. “I kept him talking so that we could trace the call and locate him.”

The officer added: “I asked him about the kind of explosion he would carry out. He told me that he would blow up shopping malls and skyscrapers. I asked him why he was doing this and he said he was demanding the release of some Bangladeshi inmates in Sharjah Prison, who were suspected of murder. He also said he wanted Dh1 million.”

The police traced the call to a location in Sharjah and then kept the caller on the phone while they contacted Sharjah Police, who raided his home.

The defendant later confessed to making the threats, saying he was in debt, before pleading guilty in court yesterday.

He told the judge: “I was in a very bad situation financially and was frustrated and depressed. I was jobless.”

The prosecution has asked for the toughest possible sentence, which is seven years in jail. A sentence is due later this month.