CBS/AP
“Tierra is the latest American tourist to get caught up in what is a common rental car extortion scheme.”
“Rental car agencies are notorious for opening criminal cases against visitors with the promise to drop the case if they are paid off. The prevalence of blackmail is damaging to the UAE’s tourism and investment sectors and Dubai’s government needs to crack down on this abuse of process,” said Stirling, an activist and lawyer specializing in Arab nations’ laws.”
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — A Houston woman known online as the “Sassy Trucker” who had been stranded in Dubai for months over an altercation at a car rental agency left the United Arab Emirates on Tuesday, an advocate for the woman said.
Tierra Young Allen, 29, took off on a flight out of the UAE and will transit through the United Kingdom on her way back to the U.S., said Radha Stirling, who runs a for-hire advocacy group long critical of the UAE called Detained in Dubai.
Allen paid a $1,360 deposit to Dubai police to clear the travel ban she faced, Stirling said.
It wasn’t clear if Allen still has any legal complaints against her in the UAE, a federation of seven sheikhdoms on the Arabian Peninsula. Officials in Dubai did not immediately return a request for comment, nor did the U.S. State Department.
Leave a Comment