Four men are on trial in Dubai for stealing 5.8 million dollars from a Dutchman. The question is where did the millions come from in the first place and where did they go?

On 28 March 2011, the Azeri Dutchman Mukhtar Ramez Uglu Ali Zadah left an apartment complex in Dubai. He walked to his car, where his young companion Ramen Binjumuf was waiting for him with two suitcases full of cash.

Seconds later both men had been beaten to the ground and stabbed by four assailants. Two suitcases and two briefcases filled with banknotes were torn from their grasp. The robbers, three Russians and an Uzbek raced off in a stolen Jaguar. Mr Zadah was admitted to Rashid hospital with serious stab wounds.

A few million
Mukhtar Ramez Uglu Ali Mr Zadah had arrived in the emirate five days earlier. He travels to Dubai regularly on business. On this occasion, an acquaintance apparently asked him for a large loan.

Mr Zadah and his 26-year-old assistant, who frequently accompanies him on business trips, pick up a few million dollars from a bureau de change in the Deraa district. On the day of the robbery, Mr Binjumuf picked up the remaining sum in the Naif district. No one asked them where the money came from. Six million dollars is peanuts for a bureau de change in Dubai. “There are 17-year-olds walking around with that kind of money here,” a local journalist says.

The robbery was carefully planned. The two Azeri Dutchmen had not told anyone they were picking up the money. Nevertheless, the robbers’ timing was perfect.

Inside job
In the end they walked into a police ambush and were put on trial. They face possible sentences of life imprisonment. Part of the money turned out to have been concealed in the apartment of one of the suspects’ girlfriend in the neighbouring emirate of Sharjah. She faces a separate trial in Sharjah.

So, the suspects have been caught and most of the money has been recovered, but some questions remain. Are the police going to investigate where the money came from? The Dutch community in Dubai is speculating that it was an inside job: Zadah and Binjumuf did a deal with the robbers and planned to make off with the money together.

Other unanswered questions are: was Zadah one of the wealthy businessmen who get preferential treatment travelling in and out of Dubai? And did the Dutch consulate in Dubai know anything about the multi-million dollar transaction?

Q & A
Dubai puts great stock in its reputation as a safe haven. The police investigation has been dubbed The Thin Line after an Egyptian movie from 1971. A spectacular jewel theft four years ago was called Operation Pink Panther.

The question remains whether the authorities in the emirate are interested in the answers. There is a possibility that they would make Dubai less attractive to the foreign businessmen it is so eager to have as regular customers.

The trial is scheduled to resume on 16 October.

(nc/imm)