Dubai: Three men, who kidnapped a vendor and threatened to kill him if his relative didn’t return Dh52,000 that he had stolen, had their three-month imprisonment lengthened to five years in jail.

The Indian trio, M.R., a waiter, and two salesmen, A.M. and A.K, threatened to kill the Bangladeshi vendor and repeatedly beat him in his workplace where they confined him for four days in November.

The trio believed that the vendor’s relative had stolen M.R.’s Dh52,000, said records.

In May, the Dubai Court of First Instance convicted the three of depriving the vendor of his freedom and confining him in the room and handed them a lenient punishment [three months in jail].

Prosecutors appealed the primary ruling and sought to have the defendants’ three-month imprisonment stiffened.

The trio had pleaded not guilty.

On Wednesday, the Dubai Appeal Court overturned the primary ruling and jailed the convicts for five years each.

Presiding judge Saeed Salem Bin Sarm said the trio will be deported following the completion of their punishments.

The vendor testified that the incident happened in M.R.’s shop where he worked.

“He asked me about my relative, who worked for M.R. but in another shop. When I told him that I did not know his whereabouts, M.R. beat me. He locked me up in a room and told me that my relative had stolen his Dh52,000. He threatened to kill me if I didn’t pay him the money. I was beaten up during the four days in confinement. Four days later, the trio forced me into a car and drove to Al Ain … when they did not find my relative, they beat me with a wooden stick. I called up a person named M.D. and asked him to come,” he claimed.

M.D. testified that he spoke to M.R. and agreed to meet him outside a hospital in Al Ain and hand him the money.

Records said when A.M. and A.K. got out of the car to meet M.D., the vendor fled.

“I reported the matter to police. I provided them with the description of the car of M.R., who was arrested later,” claimed M.D. The other defendants were also arrested.

The appellate ruling remains subject to appeal before the Cassation Court within 30 days.