SHARJAH: A gang of violent criminals armed with a taser stun gun and iron rods is driving around UAE streets in a saloon car looking for victims.
Last Friday, they struck in Sharjah’s Mamzar Corniche area when they abducted an unsuspecting car cleaner from a sandy parking area near Majestic Towers and robbed him of cellphones and around Dh2,000 in cash.
Bangladeshi car cleaner Mohammad Jasimuddin, 22, said he was beaten mercilessly and repeatedly blasted with a taser gun when he tried to resist.
Showing injury marks on his forearm, hands and face, Jasimuddin said his two-hour ordeal began around 9.30pm on January 6 when he was approached by four men in a golden-yellow Toyota Camry with tinted windows while he was washing cars in the neighbourhood.
“Before I could comprehend what was happening, three men stepped out of it and grabbed me. I tried to shout but one of them covered my mouth with his hand while the other two beat me and dragged me into the vehicle,” Jasimuddin told XPRESS.
“They shoved me in the back seat with a man on either side and sped off. Inside the car, they searched my pockets. I fought back but they overpowered me and hit me with iron rods while the man in the front passenger seat turned around and shot me with a taser gun.
Sadist
“As my body convulsed from the electric shock of the stun gun, he laughed hysterically and tasered me four more times,” Jasimuddin recalled.
“I had around Dh100 in my wallet and another Dh1,900 kept separately besides two cellphones including a Samsung S3. They took everything except my Emirates ID.”
Jasimuddin said he watched helplessly as the criminals shared the spoils among them and drove him around the city.
“At one point I spotted a police patrol. I screamed and banged on the windows to draw their attention but the men pinned me down and rained more blows on me.”
Jasimuddin said the gang eventually dumped him at a landfill site in Muhaisnah, Dubai around 11.30pm. “For several minutes I just lay writhing in pain and wondering how I would return to my room in Sharjah. Luckily, an Arab man who was driving down the street stopped by and drove me to a police station in Sharjah’s industrial area where I was asked to get a medical report of my injuries. But I have not done it yet as I have lost whatever money I had in the robbery,” he said.
A spokesman at the Media and Public Relation Department of Sharjah Police said they are aware of the incident and have launched an investigation. According to Jasimuddin, the gang included three Arab men and a South Asian driver “I can recognise them,” said Jasimuddin, who has also noted the number of the Abu Dhabi registration plate car driven by the men.
The incident has sparked fears among residents. Pakistani Nadeem Qureshi, who lives in Majestic Towers, said: “As a parent and husband I am disturbed. If an adult man can be abducted from a seemingly safe neighbourhood and subjected to such violence, one dreads to think about women, teenagers and young children.”
However, a resident suspects the gang picked the car washer deliberately because he was a soft target given his tricky job profile.
“It’s obvious they knew that car washing on the streets is illegal in Sharjah. Perhaps they would have thought that the victim wouldn’t lodge a police complaint fearing his own arrest,” said the Indian expat.
There could be some truth in the assertion as another car washer was similarly abducted and robbed in Sharjah the same night. He had Dh200.
