UAE: Manager, two others force employee to pay Dh150,000 by detaining him in staff accommodation

Three Asian men have been jailed for detaining their colleague inside a workers' accommodation for three days and assaulting him in an attempt to force him to return Dh150,000.

One of the defendants claimed that the victim delayed to return the amount to a company they work for.

The Court of Appeal amended the sentence to a six-month jail term, followed by deportation. The details of the case date back to last June, when a friend of the victim reported that he had been detained.

According to the statement, he had received a call from one of his friends in his home country saying that a mutual friend had been detained by a gang who asked him to transfer Dh150,000 for his release.

A police officer said that an investigation team found the victim in one of the rooms in the workers' accommodation of a company where he works. He was in a state of fear and suffered from fatigue.

The victim said his manager, with the help of others, took him to a workers' housing after seizing his phone, and then detained him in a room. He was beaten for three days, before one of them asked him to contact a friend to help and transfer the required amount from his home country. Only then would the gang allow him to leave, the victim added.