Dubai has built its reputation as a glamorous and sun-soaked tax-haven, that offers a glitzy lifestyle for hundreds of thousands of Britons.

But don’t be fooled by the shiny facade – strict and uncompromising local laws can have dangerous consequences, particularly for those leaving the country.

An estimated 30,000 Britons have fled Dubai since the conflict in the Middle East escalated in February. The city’s prized status as a safe oasis was left in pieces after hundreds of Iranian missiles rained down on its famous hotels and skyscrapers.

But anyone planning to leave the United Arab Emirates must be very careful to have their finances in order so as not to fall foul of the local rules.

Albert Douglas, who lived a life of luxury in the city for 17 years, learned firsthand just how easily things can go wrong. When his grown-up son Wolfgang left Dubai to move back to the UK in 2019 with debt in his name, Albert was made to pay the ultimate price.

The 63-year-old British grandfather spent four years in prison during which he was ‘beaten and tortured’ during a stretch inside that he says will haunt him forever.

For the first time, Albert has shared the horrors he lived through in the filthy prison cell, from being ‘kicked around like a football’ until his bones broke to being left out for days in the searing desert sun with no food or water.

This marked a sharp contrast to the glamourous lifestyle he once led in a mansion on the famous Palm Jumeirah island, driving around in a Rolls Royce.

Wolfgang says: ‘Every day it felt like winning the lottery. But it was an illusion. Like a Las Vegas casino, the house always wins and you can one day lose everything.’

This shocking experience is a warning to anyone currently based in the UAE, where debt can be deemed a criminal matter. Even a seemingly minor financial issue, such as a bounced cheque or argument over a cab fare with a taxi driver, can lead to a situation where you end up in jail.

With property prices collapsing and businesses suffering following the recent attacks, many may find themselves in debt.

So how did it come to this for Albert? And what exactly are the financial rules that all Brits should be aware of?

A slippery slope

Albert, who is originally from Enfield in north London, moved to Dubai with his wife Naomi in 2004 to run a wooden flooring company.

His eldest child Wolfgang, joined him four years later aged 20, and started his own flooring company TimberWolf Flooring as a ‘friendly competitor’.

The company started out well and the Douglas family led a life of luxury, living in that beautiful £6million mansion.

At one point Wolfgang was even given a tiger cub called Snowy as a gift by the Dubai ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum. The cub soon got too big to handle so was returned to the sheikh’s private zoo.

But over time, Wolfgang, who is now 38, says it became increasingly difficult to recoup payments for the work he was doing. By 2019, he was in debt and was unable to pay his creditors so decided to move back to Britain.

Upon his return from Dubai to London, Wolfgang was informed by a law firm in the United Arab Emirates that the authorities were looking for him on account of 6 million Dirham (about £1.2million) worth of debt.

However, Wolfgang disputes this – he says his debt was ‘nowhere near this value’.

Albert, who was still living in Dubai, flew to London to speak to Wolfgang after discovering his son’s assets, including his business’s warehouse, in Dubai were being seized.

Failing to repay a debt can be deemed a criminal offence in Dubai.

Albert ignored his son’s pleas to stay away and returned to his home in Dubai shortly after, confident he could sort everything out for his son.

But the moment that he landed at the airport, he was arrested by the local authorities, in relation to his son’s unpaid debt.

Albert was given an immediate travel ban and spent the next two years fighting to prove his innocence but in 2021 was found guilty of owing money to creditors.

This is because Albert had put his signature to a trade licence application made by Wolfgang. This document was later updated to remove Albert’s name but the damage was done – and he would be held accountable for his son’s debts.

What are the rules?

In the UAE a creditor can use the civil courts to have a debtor jailed or slapped with a travel ban. You are unlikely to be released until any debts have been paid off.

The prison sentence may only be for a set time – such as three years – but if the money is not repaid during this time, the creditors could still chase you for the outstanding cash and in theory you could be in jail indefinitely.

There is no fixed minimum amount of debt for which you can be chased – but people have been detained for amounts as little as 5,000 Dirham (about £1,000). At this point it is possible for a court to also order a travel ban.

You can leave the UAE with credit card debt unless there is a court judgment against you. But if a formal legal case has been filed against you with any type of debt, you run the risk of being stopped at the airport because you could face a travel ban. Many people try to flee Dubai when they fall into debt because it can be difficult for authorities to track them down once out of the country.

In 2021, Albert had his assets seized, which included his property and materials used by his company, and was slapped with a £2.5million fine. He was also sentenced to three years in prison.

This was when Wolfgang decided to pay illegal people smugglers in Britain £20,000 to quickly get his father out before the prison sentence began.

But in a terrifying bid for freedom, Albert was captured by United Arab Emirates armed forces at the border with the Gulf State of Oman as he crouched by the 13-foot-high razor-wire fence that marked the border.

Soldiers barked out commands at Albert, who says he was shocked to see his body covered in red dots coming from rifle laser sights.

Harsh reality of prison

Four years of prison hell began in the early hours of February 2021 when a hood was put over Albert’s head after he was captured at the border with Oman.

Taken to a secret location, he was stripped naked and interrogated for several days in a dark, dirty cell believed to be within a military base, so he would share details of the smugglers – during which time he was not allowed to sleep and was repeatedly knocked around.

He says: ‘I didn’t have the answer. So, I was beaten and tortured.’

But the nightmare had only just begun. Albert was next taken to a prison in Abu Dhabi, where he was ‘kicked around like a football’ and eventually suffered a broken shoulder bone.

Over three days he was left outside in the searing desert heat, starved of food and water and forced to use a dirty outside toilet to quench his thirst. He says the trauma left him without dignity ‘feeling less than nothing’.

Albert would later be transferred to the central prison Al Awir in Dubai where he was forced to share a filthy cell with up to 15 others. There were only three sets of bunk beds, so some inmates slept on the floor.

As a ‘pay to play’ prison, survival depended on handouts from family or friends to help pay for food and ensure he was not mistreated, Albert says.

Living off meagre portions of rice and watery soup, Albert witnessed suicides, rapes and violent fist fights – and was once almost murdered after an inmate choked him with a phone wire before he was rescued by others.

The initial three-year prison sentence was increased when debtors brought civil claims, and he feared dying in jail – a grim prospect faced by other British prisoners.

About 90 per cent of Dubai inmates are foreign nationals, imprisoned for everything from sharing ‘unlicensed’ social media posts or owing others money, to rape and murder.

Fight for freedom

Wolfgang fought tirelessly for his father’s release – and spent ‘a small fortune’ on lawyers, he says. He even got the United Nations involved.

Albert was eventually released in May 2025, more than four years after his incarceration began.

Still trapped in Dubai, he survived off the charity of friends and feared being rearrested at any moment.

But in October the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees stated Albert’s human rights had been violated and raised concerns about how his trial was conducted. Albert was allowed to fly home to England in December 2025.

Wolfgang says: ‘My phone has been ringing off the hook since my father’s release – with others still trapped in Dubai fearing even going to the airport to leave, as this is where they might be arrested.

‘Property prices in Dubai have suffered since the war in Iran broke out in February and people have been furloughed – often not paid – while still having to pay bills. It is a recipe for disaster.

‘Just a few thousand pounds of debt is enough to throw you in jail. Attracted by the glamour and luxury it is easy to be seduced by Dubai. But rulers have a sharp knife – and the other side of the knife is a dark and dangerous place.’

Albert’s experience offers a cautionary tale for thousands of expats who may consider leaving the UAE – or who still enjoy life there but have worries about debt.