A British millionaire who used to dine with Dubai’s elite spent four years locked up in the expat hotspot – now he has issued a warning to people looking to move to the UAE
A British expat who became a successful businessman in the UAE has warned people considering going to the desert country to “be careful” after he was locked up for years.
Albert Douglas, 63, said he still suffers from the scars of being imprisoned in Dubai’s notorious jails. The Brit moved to Dubai in the 1990s and made the most of the property boom and transformation of the desert land – becoming rich and successful in the process.
At one point he drove around in a Rolls Royce and attended glamorous events and dinners with Dubai’s elite – including ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum who reportedly gifted Albert a pet tiger cub – but this luxury life all came crashing down.
READ MORE: Dubai and other UAE states arrest 70 Brits for war images – with 10-year jail threatREAD MORE: Dubai jail hell of Brit ‘arrested for laughing’ in war-torn Gulf state
Albert moved to Dubai permanently with his wife Naomi, in 2002, and set up a flooring business, named Alomi Real Wood Floors, which supplied to buildings including the Burj Khalifa and the City Walk. The Brit at one point even lived in a £6million mansion of the famous Palm Jumeirah island.
Albert worked with his son Wolfgang, who set up his own company named TimberWolf Flooring, but the son soon fell into issues recouping money for multi-million-pound government projects he was working on, according to the Daily Mail.
Wolfgang flew back to the UK for a medical procedure, in 2019, and Albert also flew back to the UK but decided to head back to Dubai to carry on work. Albert was arrested at Dubai international airport and fined £2.5million and sentenced to three years behind bars, after UAE authorities were not able to reach his son.
The dad claimed he had no links to his son’s business at the time of his arrest, expect being listed on a legal document for the company that was started in 2007. Albert also said authorities in the UAE said a cheque the 63-year-old signed had bounced but he had strongly denied these claims.
Albert was released on bail, after taking his case to the supreme court but failing, then attempted to escape the UAE by crossing the border into Oman, in February 2021. The dad was caught and arrested by soldiers.
Albert claimed he was attacked and his family alleged that this led him to develop Alzheimer’s disease and suffer with several strokes. He was kept in several jails and claimed he was tortured while being help in captivity. The dad alleged that he was deprived of water, food and medical treatment.
He also claimed that he saw fellow inmates being raped and dying by suicide. Albert also claimed he weighed by 9st 6lbs when he was eventually released from jail, despite being 12st 8lbs when he went in. Albert revealed the pain he still suffers with to this day and said: “God didn’t give me these injuries. I suffer now from blackouts. I had my broken shoulder, which wasn’t properly fixed. I had three fingers that were broken. I have a back injury.”
The dad was handed a two year sentence in February 2021 before it was reduced to 18 months. Despite this, he stayed in prison much longer and was released in May 2025 after the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention had looked into his case.
Albert sent a warning to other Brits looking to move their lives to the UAE, according to the Daily Mail, and said: “Be careful and be aware of what happened to me – it could very, very easily happen to you.” He added: “I assure you, I’m not the only one. There are dozens, even hundreds of people that are in the same situation. It’s endemic in their system: not a one-off, it’s accepted.”
Albert also warned: “In the UAE, there are basically no human rights. Speaking your mind in any way detrimental to the government of the UAE can get you put in jail, and when you are in jail, you are under scrutiny all the time.”
