Two Bangladeshi men arrested for allegedly murdering two compatriates

Police say one victim was killed after failing to produce a visa for a suspect, the second for coming to his aid.

SHARJAH // Two Bangladeshi men who allegedly murdered two compatriates in August of last year and dumped their bodies in a water tank after a dispute over a visa have been arrested, police have said.

The remains of M G and M S were discovered 10 days ago in Industrial Area 15 when workers cleaning out the tank, which belonged to a construction company, noticed a foul smell, authorities said. They then found the decomposed bodies.

The company’s owner called the police, who immediately formed a team to investigate the scene. They recovered evidence including documents belonging to the victims, a police spokesman said.

“The victims were completely disfigured but their clothes were still intact and their heads were covered in plastic bags,” he said. “Underneath the bodies police were able to retrieve one of the victim’s identification documents that had [M S’s] name and his picture. He was working at the construction company.”

During a subsequent interrogation police discovered that M G had worked at the same company and that both men had been missing for almost a year.

“The victims’ families in Bangladesh had no idea as to what had happened to them,” the police spokesman said. “After questioning family members who worked in Sharjah we were able to identify a suspect.”

After further investigation police arrested M A, who eventually confessed that he carried out the crime with an accomplice, T M. The men who died and those arrested were all in their thirties, police said. They did not provide specific ages.

“The suspect [M A] claimed that he killed M S last August because he had initially given him Dh12,000 for a visa,” the spokesman said. “The victim was not able to fulfil his promise and after making excuses the suspect finally lost his temper and killed him with an iron rod and then strangled him with a cord.”

M G, a friend of S M who was nearby rushed to his aid upon hearing him scream, police said. M A attacked and killed him as well. He then called T M and asked him to help clean up the crime scene, police said. Their case will be referred to public prosecutors.

The arrests marked the third gruesome murder to be uncovered by Sharjah police in the last two months. A married woman and her lover were taken into custody last week after her husband was found stabbed to death behind a shopping centre.

They confessed to plotting the husband’s death to obtain a large sum of money he had received recently from his brother. The victim’s body was found lying in a pool of blood in an industrial area with multiple knife wounds.

An Emirati woman in her 40s was found murdered in her home in Khorfakhan and her naked body bound with ropes. Police said the killing was perpetrated by her housemaid, who had stolen Dh20,000 from her and fled.

The spate of deaths appeared to conflict with statements by Major Gen Humaid al Hudaidi, the head of the Sharjah police, who said earlier this year the number of murder cases in the emirate was decreasing. He did not give comparative figures. He also promised that this year another police branch would be opened up in Sharjah’s Sajja industrial area, where most of the recent murders have been reported.

The recent killings were a concern to residents who questioned whether they could continue boasting of living in the safest place in the world.

"What threatens me is the cruelty used by these murderers and their ability to hide their crimes for so long," said Alaa Khan. "How on earth could a murderer be free for eight months without police even uncovering the copses while people are reported as missing?"

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