Strange Practice !!
Does this seem right to you: A lady waiting for a taxi on her own beside Holiday Vila Hotel was approached by two plain clothed policemen and asked for her ID, no problems there. They then looked inside her handbag, and removed money, mobiles and tablet (prescribed for a heart condition). Then taken to Capital Police station kept for 48 hours during which time she appeared in front of a Judge and questioned about the contents of her bag !!! No charges were made and she was released but her mobile, money and tablets were not returned and no receipt was issued by the Police ! No further contact with any law enforcement officer has happened, no travel ban has been put in place either. The event took place in December 2014 !!! Is this normal practice or ??????? what should be her next step to recover her property, advice please to pass on to her, thanks
Thanks for the update. I think it is a case of a mistaken identity or may be a blunder made by young inexperienced officers. Please keep updating us and good luck to your friend :)
Following up she went Capital Police station trying to reclaim her possessions (money, mobiles etc) !!!
Ha Ha they cant release until she gets paper from Public Prosecutions office, so of she goes. Waits 40 minutes to be seen, only to be told no record of any case, either from the case number provided by Capital Police officer or her ID number. So its back to Capital Police station. as they say watch this space !!!! but don't hold your breath
sounds very weird...
I can hardly believe it to be true.
Then best she go to CID and complain
Thank you all for information and advice> There is not any other side to this story believe me it is as written !!!
Thank you all for information and advice> There is not any other side to this story believe me it is as written !!!
Very surprised by this incident and I can hardly believe it to be true. I have been to the Capital Police Station several times and found the police officers very cooperative and helpful. I just cannot believe the police here to keep her money, mobile and medicine. Something is not right here. I am sure if she approaches some senior officer at the police station, the matter would be looked into. She should go there with someone who speaks fluent Arabic.
To my knowledge, the police here do not arrest women unless accompanied by women police officer leave alone plain clothed undercover agents. Something is not right here. Like the gentlemen above suggested, she should seek counsel from her embassy or directly go to capital police with some people. The police here is very respectful to women.
Of course she asked them to present their IDs before any of this took place so she has their information to give to CID and request the return of her money, etc.
This is not uncommon in the GCC for people pretending to be plain clothes police officers. If in doubt, for example, they can't produce ID, ask for a police car to be summoned and to go to the police station for the inquiries.
That sounds weird. Tell her to approach her embassy and try to get a meeting with an official there and seek advice/protection. But again, as Brit said above, there are two sides of the story. Is she a journalist by the way?
From that instance she was approached and nothing was found illegally on her, then she wouldn't had surrendered herself to those guys. maybe there is still something more.
Very surprised by this. There are always two sides to the story, but I would suggest that she contact CID