Taxi driver scammer jailed after series of robberies in Dubai

Jordanian would ask drivers to get medicine from a pharmacy for him and then steal the money they had stashed in their cabs.

DUBAI // An unemployed Jordanian who robbed a taxi driver after claiming he was sick and needed medicine was sentenced to a year in jail on Monday.

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

However, prosecutors said he had carried out five thefts from taxi drivers by giving them money to buy him medicine from a pharmacy before snatching their entire amount of cash.

On July 17 last year, 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 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 F A.

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 F A.

The Jordanian called the friend later the same day and F A 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 F A.

“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 F A 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.