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A shop employee who claimed to be an undercover CID agent has been found guilty of ‘preying on other expats’ by extorting money from them using his criminally-imaginative alter ego.
The High Criminal Court sentenced the 23-year-old to three years in prison on charges of impersonating a public security officer, and ruled to deport him back to India after completing his sentence.
The court heard that he ‘hunted individuals from the Asian expatriate community’ and was only discovered when he failed to extort money from one of his targets, because the victim was ‘broke’.
The office assistant, who lives in Hoora, reportedly approached fellow foreign nationals to check their visa status, then demanded fines from any whose visas were expired or violated residency laws.
He was convicted of forging ID cards to pretend to be a member of the Interior Ministry’s Central Investigation Department (CID) or a Labour Market Regulatory Authority (LMRA) inspector.
He was also convicted with using a forged document with knowledge of its falsified nature and attempting to scam his victim.
The Public Prosecution further accused him of interfering with civil service duties that he had no authorisation to practice in order to carry out an illegal activity.
Text messages found on his phone revealed that he had plans to expand his operation – he tried to recruit another person, asking him to impersonate a police officer and promising to bring several potential targets his way.
The victim who brought about his downfall, an unemployed Indian, told authorities that the defendant came to him in July, presenting a military card although he was dressed in plain clothes.
“The defendant asked me if I have a valid residence permit,” the expat, who lives in Hoora, earlier testified. “I said I’m on an expired visitor’s visa, and he asked for BD200 to cover the cost of a fine.
“I told him I didn’t have any money, so he said that he’ll come back later to collect it.”
Authorities tracked and arrested the conman after receiving further information from ‘trusted secret sources’ about the scam.
An ambush was set up to lure him outside a mobile phone store in Gudaibiya and a patrol car was sent to arrest him.
He tried to flee and threw several incriminating ID cards on the ground.
“I learnt from an informant that the defendant was impersonating a police officer with forged official documents,” a detective earlier testified. “He hunted individuals from the Asian expatriate community, providing the police ID to ask them for their personal information, then informing them that they were committing a violation.
“He demanded payment and, if they didn’t respond, he threatened them with legal action. Three people seem to have fallen for the scam, but none of them reported him because they were afraid.”
The identity cards used were checked and found to be fake.
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