DUBAI: Two students who posed as detectives, shocked pedestrians with a cattle prod and fled with their valuables have been jailed for a total of four years.

The Jordanian student, 19, and Yemeni friend, 25, kidnapped and robbed the Indian driver and three Nepalese labourers on Apr.13, according to the quartet’s complaints at the Bur Dubai Police Station.

They denied the charges in court. The Dubai Criminal Court sentenced the student to one year in jail and the friend to three years. It ordered that both be deported upon completion of the jail terms.

On the record, at around 8.30pm the Indian driver, 28, was walking along a street when a car stopped by him. Both students and two fugitive accomplices jumped out shouting, “We are CID personnel!”

They shoved him inside the car’s backseat and shocked various parts of his body with the cattle prod. The car’s driver (the Jordanian) battered his arm using a spanner. They demanded cash and valuables.

They frisked him and snatched Dhs2,000 from his wallet then forced him to rub the wallet with his hands to remove their fingerprints. They snatched his iPhone 6, dropped him at a dark area and sped off.

A Nepalese labourer, 24, said that at around 10.15pm he and two colleagues (aged 22 and 39) were on Al Waha Street waiting for a taxi when the gang arrived identifying themselves as policemen.

They were carrying electric torches. “They directed the torches in our faces. They snatched money from the wallets of my colleagues. They pushed me inside the car. Two of them sat with me on the backseat.

“A fugitive shocked my shoulder with the prod after I refused to surrender my phone. The driver snatched my iPhone 6 worth Dhs1,400, my Dhs20 wallet that contained Dhs1,100, a Nol card and a bank card.”

The 22-year-old labourer gave a similar narration and complained, “The students and their accomplices snatched Dhs500 from his wallet.”

The 39-year-old labourer seconded the complaints and explained, “They grabbed my wallet and snatched Dhs110 from it. They returned the wallet to me and drove away.”