Seven men have been accused of kidnapping a man and stealing more than Dh141,000 and a mobile phone from him. They posed as CID staff and sprayed his eyes with a chilly substance, the Dubai Criminal Court heard.

The seven were assisted by two others who supplied them with information about the victim.

Dubai Prosecution accused each of SHS, 24, jobless, Emirati; YKA, 24, Pakistani; MYM, 22, Bangladeshi; TDM, 25, Bangladeshi; ZHK, 22 Pakistani; MRR, 25, Bangladeshi; and NDM, 27 Bangladeshi, with other fugitives of kidnapping Mohammed Aref Al Islam by posing as CID staff and taking him in their car. They took him to a sandy area and forcibly robbed him on March 9.

They stole Dh141,653 of the victim’s employer's money and his mobile phone with the assistance of SMH, 25 Bangladeshi and RWA, 29, Pakistani, who supplied the others with information about the victim. The prosecution has accused them of criminal complicity.

The prosecution asked the court to apply the stiffest penalty.

The victim Mohammed Aref Al Islam, 30, Bangladeshi worker, testified that at around 5pm on March 9 his employer asked him to collect Dh141,653 from Jamal’s shop which is about have a kilometre from his shop. He went and collected the money and called his sponsor Zafar and told him that he did the job.

He put the money in a leather bag that did not have a lock and walked back to the shop.

“On my way back, three men, two of whom were wearing kandoura stopped me and claiming they were CID staff, asked for my ID. I opened the bag and presented my labour card. They searched me and took my mobile phone. One of them held my hands behind me and pushed me into their car. I asked them that I should call Zafar and tell him that I am with the CID staff. One of them called Zafar from his mobile and told him that. They drove me to a sandy area behind Century Mall and sprayed a substance on my eyes and drove away. However, I could get the car’s number plate. I called Zafar from a mobile phone of a person in the street. The latter asked me to come back to the shop and then he lodged a complaint with the police.
 
Zafarulhaq Sikdar, 28, Bangladeshi, partner, testified that he asked the victim to go and collect the money from Jamal’s shop. "Once he collected the money he called me and told me that he did that. After about 15 minutes, I received a call from a number that I am not familiar with and the person talked to me in Arabic which I do not understand. My father spoke to the caller who said that they are taking Mohammed to the CID to check his identity. As he was late, we called him on his mobile, but it was switched off.

"After Al Maghreb prayer we received a call from a number and the caller was Mohammed who told us about his kidnap and the theft of the amount… When he reached the shop we lodged a complaint with the police,” he testified.

Police was investigating a similar complaint made by an African who was robbed by people who claimed they were CID staff. The African could identify one of the suspect while the latter was walking in the street. So the police arrested him and located the car that was used and identified by Mohammed and so police reached the other suspects, testified Second Lieutenant Khalid Khalifa.