India conman escapes UAE on repatriation flight

An Indian fraudster has managed to escape the UAE with $1.6 million (six million dirhams) having conned scores of businessmen, taking advantage of India’s ‘Vande Bharat Mission’ repatriation flights for stranded Indians abroad.

According to Gulf News, Yogesh Ashok Yariava, who owns a fraudulent company called Royal Luck Foodstuff Trading is the prime suspect in the scam which involved making bulk purchases with unsuspecting traders against post-dated cheques. Stolen goods include beef, cheese, dates, hand sanitizers and face masks.

By the time many of the traders realised their cheques had bounced, the suspect had already fled the country on the repatriation flight along with 170 evacuees to Hyderabad from Abu Dhabi on 11 May.

It has been reported that the Indian Consulate office in Dubai were unable to help the fraud victims while complaints had been filed with the police.

It has been speculated that the suspect may have sold much of the products in the UAE before he fled as it would be unlikely that he’d be able to take the whole stock to India.

READ: Emirates airline lays off trainee pilots, cabin crew