'Massage gang' film customer naked in Dubai, rob him of Dh100,000

A man and three women, all Nigerians, stood trial at the Dubai Court of First Instance after they confined a Tunisian man at their rented flat and robbed him of Dh100,000.

According to court documents, the defendants, including a female runaway, held the victim captive in their flat where they stripped him naked and filmed him on April 30 night. They forced him to give them his bank card and later withdrew Dh99,000 from his account. They also stole Dh1,000 from him. They threatened to circulate his clip if he reported them to the police.

However, he filed a complaint at the Jebel Ali police station.

They have been accused of illegal confinement, robbery, issuing criminal threats, invasion of privacy, unlawful use of a bank card, faking a government entity's seal and forgery of a passport. They stamped a forged Kenyan passport and stamped it with a fake entry seal which they attributed to the Abu Dhabi International Airport. They used that passport when renting a flat.

The 37-year-old complainant, a PhD holder in mathematics, said he called a mobile number he got from a massage business card after 4pm on April 30.

"They sent me their location in Jebel Ali on WhatsApp. Two women opened the door for me and pulled me forcibly inside while a man grabbed me by the neck while he was pulling me by my trousers belt."

As he began screaming, one of the women brought a big kitchen knife and threatened to kill him if he did not keep quiet.

"I obeyed their order. They took Dh1,000 and my bank card and ID. I was told then to take off my clothes. They filmed me naked and ordered me to look straight to their mobile phone camera," he recounted.

The victim, who then feared losing his job, begged them and was made to reveal his ATM pin after they threatened to post his clip on Facebook.

They took his mobile phone and got into his social media apps and contacts. "I was deprived of my freedom from 6pm till 4am the next day. One of the women said they would let me go after chopping off my ear while the man said they would ask for more amounts of money two days later or they would circulate the video," he recalled.

He was left terrified and worried but he reported the incident to the police.

When the male accused contacted him later to demand Dh7,000 worth of mobile recharge cards, the complainant showed the conversation to the police.

A police sergeant said they tracked down the group with photos taken from surveillance cameras of the victim's bank. "On the night of the incident, two women booked a table at a nightclub for Dh7,000 (stolen from the victim's card) for several nights. We apprehended them then."

The trial will continue on October 8.

mary@khaleejtimes.com

• Dubai