Four men jailed for three years for kidnapping and torturing woman in Dubai

Attackers stole Dh38,000 and a Louis Vuitton bag worth Dh7,500 from victim

The men have 15 days to appeal against the sentence. Photo: AFP

Dubai Criminal Court has sentenced four Chinese men to three years in jail for kidnapping and torturing a woman in the emirate.

The woman, also from China, was kidnapped on August 3 last year. A man who had met her a month earlier arranged to meet in Jebel Ali to buy some digital currency from her.

When the woman arrived by car to meet the man, he was accompanied by three others.

One of them showed her an ID card that resembled that of the Chinese police and said she was wanted in her home country on corruption charges.

They forced her out of the driver's seat of her car and into the back of the vehicle, where they tied her up and covered her face.

Prosecutors said she was taken to a location in Dubai Investment Park where she was beaten up, stripped and tortured with a Taser gun.

The men forced her to unlock her mobile phone to get access to her digital currency wallet.

They transferred 8,000 units of digital currency, worth more than Dh30,000 ($8,160), as well as Dh8,000 in cash from her purse and her Louis Vuitton bag worth Dh7,500. They took photos of the woman and threatened to post them online if she reported them to the police.

They drove off, leaving their victim in the car, but she managed to remove the covering on her face and saw their car’s number plate. She called the police and reported the robbery.

“I met one of the men on Telegram a month before the incident. He then contacted me offering to sell me some digital currency, and we actually met, and I bought some digital money from him,” the woman told the court.

He contacted her again, asking to buy currency.

“So we met on the date of the incident, but he showed up with three more men, and they kidnapped me,” she said.

It was not revealed how police tracked down and arrested the men, aged between 26 and 37. In court, they denied charges of kidnap, torture and theft.

All four were found guilty and will be deported after serving their prison sentences.

They have 15 days to appeal against the sentence.