DUBAI// Two men were aquitted on Monday of stealing nearly Dh3.6million from a Saudi national then tricking him into paying a further Dh71,500 in return for giving him back the first amount of cash.
M A, 29, from Cameroon and A M, 43, from Chad, were both found not guilty at the Criminal Court because of lack of evidence.
M M, from Saudi Arabia, told prosecutors that in 2012 he met another man, S A K, who advised him to invest US$1million (Dh3.6million) in the real estate sector.
“He also told me he could give me cars and hardware valued at €25m [Dh125.6m) to sell in Saudi Arabia and his share would be 20 per cent of the profits, so I agreed,” he said.
M M said he arrived in the UAE on February 19 with $915,000 to give to S A K to start the business. He went to the hotel and S A K informed him he would send a man to pick up the money.
M A arrived in the room, where he threw white powder at him to blind him, then stole the money and replaced it with counterfeit bills, claimed M M.
“He also took $15,000 that I had in an envelope,” said M M.
M M said he called the police, but S A K persuaded him to drop the complaint. It was only after he returned to Saudi Arabia that he discovered the fake notes. Soon, he received another call from S A K who told him to hand the counterfeit notes to a man in Riyadh.
“I continued contacting S A K and the defendant M A about my money. They told me that if I transferred them 85,000 Riyals they would give me back my $915,000,” said the victim.
M M said he transferred 73,000 in seven instalments to S A K, who kept stalling about paying him back his dollars.
Finally, S A K said M M should come to Dubai to meet the African men to pay the last instalment.
M M called the police and the two defendants were arrested at their arranged meeting place.
salamir@thenational.ae