Crime reporting abroad?

[norfolklass]

Apologies for the very vague post but does anyone happen to know if there is a way of proving if a crime has been reported in another country?

A family member has supposedly had a crime committed against them (serious crime which in the UK I would imagine would warrant some sort of investigation). They have reported it to the Police apparently but the police are doing nothing. Im not 100% sure I believe them about what has happened but I don't know why they would lie about it.

Don't want to be more specific than that but it's a Middle Eastern country, the family member is a man and it's not sexual crime (he is the victim btw).

It depends very much on the country, but it’s quite normal for a bribe to be paid before the police do much of anything. I was the victim of a crime in an Asian country where I lived. We had to pay a bribe for the police to complete a report (which I needed to submit to our consulate to process a new passport application, we were attacked and mugged and passports were stolen among other things). I didn’t pay it, my dh’s employer did as I told the police chief to f*ck off!). But we then had to pay more bribes to equivalent of the home office to re issue us visas by the deadline.

That said, depending on the country, there isn’t a lot of motivation to investigate crimes against foreigners, so they just might not care.

Thank you. My gut feeling is something isn’t quite adding up but I can’t put my finger on what it is. The person involved hasn’t apparently told anyone apart from the police who haven’t done anything. He hasn’t even contacted the British Consulate and when asked why he said I just want to forget that it happened.

Is he still over there?

And why don't you believe him?

Yes he is still over there...he lives and works there.

I don't know why I don't believe him apart from the timing of the incident doesn't make sense and something doesn't feel right. But there is nothing specific that makes me not believe...just a feeling that it's all a bit of an odd situation.

Is this person generally trustworthy? I'm assuming not. Does this situation affect you adversely?

Yes he’s generally trustworthy...what he is telling me doesn’t seem to add up though.

Will try and explain...can always name change later.

He claims that he was meeting a friend for dinner one night this week (friend is real-I’ve met him) and when he got out of the car he was jumped on by 2 men and had a knife held to his throat. They apparently took his card and made him tell them the PIN number to his account and withdrew a significant amount of money in local currency all the time holding a knife to his throat.

Something just doesn’t add up, why they would take a card and not his actual wallet, they weren’t bothered about his expensive watch on his wrist which is worth more than the money they took and knowing the area this happened there would have been people everywhere.

Also his reluctance to tell the British Consulate or his employer...surely that’s the first thing you would do.

And no I don’t know why he would make it up unless he needs to explain the huge amount of money missing but it’s a local account which I can’t access anyway...it’s my DH in case that wasn’t obvious in my useless attempt to be vague.

I think that's their modus operandi. Get someone to withdraw cash for them. They might not have noticed the watch.

How much money? 200 or 2k?

To answer your question, I don't think you can even find out if a crime has been reported here - I certainly wouldn't know how to go about it.

If you don't have access to the account, why would he have had to tell you even if he had spent all the money?

Well the problem is that there are things it could be on both sides...

Cash is much easier than stuff to get rid of. Fenced stuff is worth vastly less than people think whereas cash is cash. Maybe he's feeling emasculated and therefore doesn't want to tell anyone.

OR

He's gambling, taking drugs, cheating or being blackmailed and need cash and a plausible reaosn to have it.

You'd know which is more likely. Or does he have travel insurance or other insurance that covers theft? Then he needs a police report, right?

He isn't likely to have spent it willingly...he's very careful with money (apart from a liking for flash watches). Being blackmailed by someone is what I was wondering as well.

Its about £4k which is the other weird thing because in the local currently it's over about 20,000 and I doubt you would be able to get that sort of money out of a cash point (I realise you can't here but I don't think even over there thats possible).

He has totally shut down and refusing to speak about it. Won't answer my questions and says he just wants to forget it.

Because he's employed over there I don't think the travel insurance would apply but I will check (we have it with our bank account here).

Many thanks for all the replies....it's actually helping just talking about it.

Prostitutes and coke.

He has totally shut down and refusing to speak about it. Won't answer my questions and says he just wants to forget it.

That's interesting. Is he a fairly manly-type, finds it difficult to be weak, likes masculinity? Because that would also explain the shutting down.

Is it somewhere that locks people up for doing things like drinking, gambling, shagging outside marriage?

Yes it is somewhere like that.

He said he feels scared which is also odd as he is normally the complete opposite of scared...nothing phases him.

That well be the case FiremanKing but why lie...I have no idea how much money he has in his account over there so I wouldn't know what he spends it on. I like to think that he wouldn't do anything like that but it's always a possibility I suppose.

When are you next seeing him? Face-to-face is better.