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Man Accused of Extortion Bid for Returning Passport

DUBAI — A woman visitor accused a salesman of asking her to pay Dh7,000 for the return of her passport and threatening to kill her if she did not pay him the sum and reported him to the police.

The 35-year-old Russian woman told the police that she forgot her passport in the car of a Jordanian man, who gave her a lift on August 12.

“When I stepped down from his car I realised that I had lost my passport. I looked for it and did not find it,” she said.

She added that the following day, she received a call from the accused who said that her passport was with a Russian man. “He said that he was just being a mediator between the Russian and me. He claimed that the Russian wanted Dh5,000 in return for my passport,” the woman said. He called her up many times afterwards and threatened to sell her passport. “He asked me not to tell the police and asked for Dh7,000 for the return of my passport,” the Russian said.

An Emirati police officer told the prosecutors that when he was with the plaintiff, he heard the Jordanian threatening her on the phone. In his statement, he said that the salesman was trying to extort Dh7,000 from the woman. Another Emirati corporal, involved in the operation to arrest the salesman said the cops recovered the woman’s passport from the Jordanian.

The 30-year-old Jordanian salesman went on trial on Thursday in the Court of First Instance on the charges of threat, extortion and consumption of alcohol.

In the arraignment sheet, the public prosecution called for deportation of the defendant terming him as a dangerous criminal. He was considered as a tourist stalker. He was also said to have a criminal record. The defendant has been prosecuted earlier for a rape case.

mary@khaleejtimes.ae

• UAE