A Bahraini mother’s dream holiday to London turned into a nightmare after she was mugged in broad daylight by two men impersonating as police officers in the heart of the British capital.
Thirty-nine-year-old Eftikhar Mearaj was left traumatised and terrified after the shocking encounter in the Paddington area, where the impostors – both towering men wearing security uniforms and appearing like police officers – stole all her cash after demanding to search her bag.
“It was my dream trip, my first trip – and what a nightmare it turned into,” said the shaken mother of three, who had travelled to London to celebrate a long-awaited job promotion.
She has since filed official complaints with both the London Metropolitan Police and the Bahraini Embassy in the UK, and, fearing for her safety, left earlier than planned for a stay in Turkiye last night.
The ordeal unfolded in the middle of the day when Ms Mearaj stepped out of her hotel in an upmarket area in the City of Westminster, in central London, to look for a nearby supermarket.
After Google Maps gave her confusing directions, she approached a passer-by for help. The man pointed her towards what appeared to be two police officers standing nearby.
“They looked like real officers – uniforms, badges, everything. They shouted for me to show what’s in my bag,” she recounted tearfully. “I complied immediately, but they grabbed my cash and warned me not to resist or they’d make sure I would ‘regret it’.”
Shaken and afraid, the Bahrain telecom company supervisor, rushed back to her hotel, the four-star Park Grand London Paddington, and reported the incident to the reception desk, who immediately contacted the police and the Bahraini Embassy in London.
A British cleaner of Arab origin, who has worked in the area for 25 years, later told the Gulf Daily News that such crimes are sadly not new to Paddington.
“I’ve seen these guys before – tall, foreign, dressed like police,” he said, identifying them as part of a Romanian criminal gang. “They have a driver waiting nearby. After they rob someone, they disappear for a few days and then come back again. Tourists are usually the targets.”
The victim’s family in Bahrain has been in close contact with the Foreign Ministry and the Bahraini Embassy in London.
“I was scared to even go to the airport,” said Ms Mearaj. “Everything scares me now.
“I only called my sisters, not my father. I didn’t want to worry him, but I’m still really afraid. When it’s about money or life, I chose life – because I really thought they would beat me up if I didn’t comply.”
The cash amount added up to a few hundred dinars in foreign currencies exchanged for her travelling adventure.
The London Metropolitan Police have opened an investigation into the incident, which happened on Tuesday morning, with officers examining CCTV footage from the area.
The city’s reputation as a safe place to live and visit has been blighted by mobile phone thefts and gangs of ‘Rolex ripper’ robbers taking luxury brand watches from peoples’ wrists.
US President Donald Trump recently stepped into the controversy, accusing London Mayor Sadiq Khan of doing a ‘terrible job’ and claiming that ‘crime in London is through the roof’, in their long-running war of words.
However, the latest figures from the British capital’s authorities show that the numbers of murders, knife crimes and street robberies in London have fallen.
In the first quarter of the financial year 2025-2026, theft from persons and personal robbery both fell by 13 per cent. “We’re making good progress, but there’s clearly much more to do,” the mayor said.
Opposition politicians suggest otherwise. Susan Hall, leader of the Conservatives in London’s City Hall, said: “The publicly available Met Police data shows that crime is up across a number of offences, contrary to his claims.”
mohammed@gdnmedia.bh
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