Expats jailed for robbing Omani taxi driver at knifepoint

Muscat: Two expats have been jailed for robbing a taxi driver at knifepoint, Public Prosecution has announced. The court sentenced the accused to ten years in prison and ordered their deportation on completion of the sentence.
The report from Public Prosecution states: “At 5am, the accused took the taxi from the Muscat area and told the taxi driver to drop them at a wilayat outside the capital. The accused told the driver not to take other passengers on board as they would pay the cost of the transport.
“One of them sat on the front seat of the vehicle and another in the rear seat. After an hour and half, the accused told the driver to stop near a service road as their friend was waiting for them.
“The first accused took out a knife and asked the driver to pull over his vehicle, while the second accused [in the rear seat] used electrical wire and strangled the driver with the electrical wire.”
“Then, the accused ordered the driver to hand over all cash, cell phones and bank cards. The victim gave them all of his belonging as he feared that he would get hurt.” The accused, described in the report as “Asian expats”, fled the scene after using the wire to tie up the victim inside his taxi.
The defendants took another taxi and headed back to Muscat. They withdrew cash from the victim’s bank account after obtaining the card’s passcode, the report explained.
Meanwhile, a citizen rescued the victim and he immediately called police.
With the help of CCTV cameras from the bank ATM where the accused withdrew the cash, ROP identified the accused and later arrested them at their residence in the capital.
The accused admitted the offence. All the victim’s belonging were recovered and the knife which was used for the crime also confiscated.
The Criminal Court sentenced the two men to ten years in jail and ordered a they be deported after serving the sentence.
“The sentence is a deterrent for anyone to think twice before committing any crime,” it concluded.