Serial Dubai taxi driver scammer has jail sentence upheld

Jobless Jordanian would ask drivers to go to a pharmacy to get medicine for him and then steal all the money they had in the cab.

DUBAI // An unemployed Jordanian serving a year in jail for robbing a taxi driver after claiming he was sick and needed medicine has had his sentence upheld by Dubai Court of Appeal.

A A, 36, denied charges of theft, assaulting a taxi driver and insulting him when he appeared at Dubai Criminal Court in March.

However, he was found to have carried out five thefts from taxi drivers by giving them money to buy him medicine from a pharmacy before snatching all the money they had in their vehicle.

A 35-year-old Pakistani driver of a luxury car was near Dubai Mall when the defendant stopped him for a lift to Dubai Marina on July 17 last year.

“On the way, he said he was having much pain in his knee and asked me to stop near a pharmacy and buy him medicine. He gave me Dh200 and the medicine’s name,” said driver FA.

He could not find the medicine and so returned to the cab then dropped the defendant in the marina before discovering that Dh6,200 — his entire income — was missing from the car.

“I informed Dubai Police and also my fellow drivers to tell me if they found any man with his description,” added FA.

A month later he got a call from a Nepali driver telling him that a man who fits the description given by him was with him in his car.

“He also told my fellow driver the same story about having knee pain and his need for medicine but he didn’t steal any money from my friend, he only asked for my friend’s number to call in case he needed a taxi again, so my friend gave him the number,” said FA.

The Jordanian called the friend later the same day and FA went to pick him up instead of the other driver.

“He didn’t know me and asked me to drive him to Sharjah and, on the way, he again told me to stop by a pharmacy and I did,” said FA.

“I was watching him stealing US$140 (Dh514) as I stood inside the pharmacy but he quickly stepped out of the car and took another.”

The driver followed the car and saw the Jordanian get out of the taxi and into a Mercedes-Benz.

When FA identified himself and asked for his money back, the defendant bit him on the neck and arm before fleeing.

Five days later he was arrested in Ajman and five taxi drivers identified him as stealing from them and using the same pharmacy story every time.

The defendant was handed an additional six months in jail for assaulting the driver and will be deported after serving his term.

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