Albert Douglas, a 58-year-old British businessman, was attempting to cross the UAE-Omani border through a barbed-wire fence in the early hours of 17 February 2021. He was being chauffeured by people smugglers in a pickup truck to the Al Ain border when UAE soldiers intercepted him with shouts, gunshots, and laser sights from their weapons. Wolfgang Douglas was following the situation from his home in Kensington, London, and was on the phone with one of the smugglers when gunshots were heard before the phone went dead.
Albert Douglas was captured by soldiers, had a hood pulled over his head, and was taken to an unknown location, with his family believing it was a military base. Albert Douglas had been forced to abandon his home on Dubai's Palm Jumeirah and go into hiding after being hounded by Dubai authorities over debts incurred by his son Wolfgang Douglas's company. 5 million fine and a three-year prison sentence.
That's when I decided to leave. I left it not to the last minute, but the last second.
A few weeks before his escape attempt, Douglas watched his supreme court appeal via video link and decided to leave Dubai after losing faith in the legal system during his appeal. According to The Guardian - Main UK, Albert Douglas described his decision to flee as coming at the last second. After his capture, Albert Douglas says he was stripped, slapped, deprived of sleep, and interrogated over several days in a dark, dirty cell.
According to The Guardian - Main UK, Albert Douglas described being beaten and tortured because he did not have information about the smugglers that his interrogators demanded. He was then taken to Al Ain central prison in Abu Dhabi, where three guards entered his cell and left him unconscious with head injuries described as being kicked around like a football. The specific charges or legal basis for the fine and prison sentence remain unclear, and there has been no official statement from UAE or Dubai authorities regarding Douglas's allegations.
I wasn't withholding information. I didn't have the answer. So I was beaten and I was tortured.
The current status or whereabouts of Albert Douglas after the incident at Al Ain central prison is unknown, as is the identity and fate of the people smugglers involved.