Dubai salesman threatens to set fire to employees at money exchange office in Bur Dubai

The court heard how the 52-year-old sprayed the liquid in the faces of the exchange staff and threatened them

A sales professional threatened to set fire to employees during a raid on an exchange office in Dubai, a court was told.

Prosecutors claim the New Zealander burst in to the money exchange in Bur Dubai carrying fuel and a lighter and said he would set the staff ablaze if they did not hand over cash.

Dubai Court of First Instance was told the 52-year-old sprayed the liquid in the faces of the exchange staff and threatened them.

However, it is claimed that one of the workers activated the alarm system and the robber fled. The man, who failed to appear at court yesterday, was charged with attempted robbery and endangering the lives of the employees.

He allegedly told police following his arrest that he attempted the robbery because he needed money.

Records show that on May 1 he bought two bottles of lighter fuel and rode his bicycle to the exchange office.

He placed brown women’s stockings over his face as a mask before entering the building. A 33-year-old Filipino manager in the exchange office testified that she saw the salesman spraying the employees with fuel and yelling for money.

“He tried to spray the fuel on other employees but the glass prevented him,” she said. “He was carrying a lighter and a bag and opened the bag asking us to put the money inside.”

The manager added: “An employee set off the alarm and the robber escaped.”

Dubai Police found the stockings metres away from the exchange office. However, on May 18 2014, the New Zealander committed another crime as he tried to rob a bank customer who had withdrawn Dhs6,000 in Ibn Battuta Mall.

He attacked the 54-year-old Pakistani with pepper spray, snatched a bag containing the money and escaped. However, a Nepali taxi driver saw the incident, gave chase and caught him. Police checked his DNA and it matched that found on the brown stockings left behind after the exchange office raid.

He was sentenced to six months in jail for robbing the bank customer. But wardens failed to bring him to his hearing yesterday.

The trial continues.

ali.shouk@7days.ae