Aylesbury dad detained indefinitely in United Arab Emirates for 'crime he did not commit'

The fraud relates to a job Mr Khalique, 36, applied for in 2016 as a public relations officer in the United Arab Emirates.

After his initial application for the job was successful, he was delighted to tell his family that he had been offered the job.

As part of the application process relating to visas and employment he had to provide an extensive amount of detail as personal background checks are strict in the UAE.

On arrival back from the UK the rushed to tell his fiancée, Claire Khalique, 32, the good news.

However a long period of silence followed and Atif assumed the job had fallen through.

Although strangely, the company got back in touch in March 2016 to say he needed to provide his personal details again as previous correspondence had been lost.

Then followed another period of radio silence.

Mr Khalique first learned he had been victim of fraud during the summer of 2018 as he got a solicitors letter demanding loan repayments.

He instantly reported the letter to Fraud Action.

Mr Khalique claims that when he provided his personal details to the second email, they were used for a range of fraudulent activities including running up a huge debit of bank loans and funding purchases of expensive items.

Speaking to the Bucks Herald, Atif said: “I had no idea what they were really doing with my personal information.

“They took my personal details in order to steal my identity and obtain bank loans and credit cards in my name.

“I don’t know where to start. This whole process has been emotionally draining, had an awful effect on my health. I’ve had sleepless nights, anxiety and face a huge financial burden.

“As the breadwinner for my family it has put immense pressure on my wife, and the family face the stress of dealing with eviction from our rented property in Aylesbury.”

Atif now says he is being aggressively pursued by a solicitors firm Coyle White and Devine who have been recruited by a bank in Dubai to seize his assets in a court in the UK to pay back one of the fraudulent loans.

Mr Khalique went out to Dubai with a group of friends to watch an MMA Fight involving Khabib Nurmagomedov in September, where he was detained by officials.

Unbeknown to the young father, he had been tried in abesentia due to several cases being taken out against him in the UAE by creditors who had been defrauded.

Because one of the previous cases had carried a sentence of two months, he was immediately arrested after landing in the UAE.

Mr Atif described the jail conditions as ‘horrific’

He said: “The jail conditions were horrific, they were 4 people in a cell, with 2 bunk beds, in 10x10 feet cell, a bowl of rice in the corner on the floor to share amongst four people, and Sharing the same glass for water, also the cells were open to other inmates, so anybody could walk in and out of all the cells including mine.

“The sanitation was shocking, the bed sheets, blanket and pillow all had stains; it was absolutely disgusting.

“So seeing all of this I had to go into survival mode, and said to myself I’m going to do a dry fast for the duration of my stay, so for 2 days I didn’t eat or drink anything, until I got bail.

“I was treated like a criminal and strip searched down to my underwear, I was shouted at when I was simply asking why I was being treated like this when I’m innocent.

“It’s hard to explain how horrible the whole experience was, all I can say is they lacked even basic human rights.”

Atif had been released from custody, but police have kept his passport – meaning that he remains in the UAE indefinitely until his legal battle comes to a close.

He has been there for four months.

He was scheduled for a court date in 2020, and Atif has now accepted that he would have to wait to prove his innocence.

Mr Atif has now lost his job in the telecommunications business, has spent all of his savings on the legal defence of his case and has been stranded in thousands of pounds of debt.

The family have been in contact with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, but they have however turned their backs on the family and said they cannot intervene in legal matters.

Khalique said: “The home office response was that they could not get involved with UAE legal matters.

“Even after I explained to them about all angles of my innocence, was prepared to show evidence i.e. passport entry/exit, stamps, bank statements, phone bills etc to show I wasn’t even in the country when this crime was being carried out.

“I even explained to them about my financial state, that I was going to be on the streets soon.

“Their response was cold and awful – they just washed their hands of all responsibility.

“This could happen to anyone. I know I’m innocent and I have to keep fighting my cause."