A Syrian doctor who sold his Rolex to pay for 5-star hotel accommodation in London has been arrested outside Home Office premises after demanding that they deport him back to Syria immediately. He has advised Calais migrants to return home to the war-torn country, where he says life is better.
Dr. Abdulkader Majed Al-Zuebi, who claims to have been a plastic surgeon in Syria earning £6,000 a month, arrived in the UK legally two weeks ago on a German passport. Upon arrival he claimed asylum and was given hostel accommodation, first in Dulwich, then in Cardiff, the Daily Mail has reported.
But he claims the accommodation was “miserable”, with food that was “not better than normal” and that he now wants to leave the country – but can’t as the Home Office confiscated his passport. He was arrested yesterday afternoon on a public order offence after vowing to camp outside Home Office premises in Croydon until they deport him.
“I am living in hotels for the last 11 days, I can’t go anywhere,” he said. “The Home Office are refusing to let me leave. They don’t know where my passport is.
“[The Home Office] took me from the airport, to a hostel in Dulwich, after four days they took me to a miserable place in Cardiff.
“I used to have jobs earning £6,000 a month as a doctor. In hostels the beds are bad and the food is not better than normal.”
Al-Zuebi’s facebook page shows him enjoying the high life in London, Istanbul, Egypt, and elsewhere, posing with fast cars and flashy Rolex watches.
“The Home Office say it will be six months before I get my passport back. I have had to spend my nights in five star hotels like the Marriott and The Four Seasons.
“I had to sell my Rolex for £3,000 to pay for my rooms. I had membership to these hotels back in Syria so I can stay there without papers.”
He continued: “‘It’s not a better life here. I want to work and support myself and I have told them I want to be deported. I’ve been turning up here for several days.
“They say they are not going to send me back to Syria. I will need to buy a British passport and book a private flight to Damascus.”
Al-Zuebi says he used to fight for Assad, but left Syria when the war started.
He explained: “I was put in jail, then I fled to Saudi Arabia, Turkey, then Greece, then to Germany.”
In Germany he was given a passport, allowing him to fly to Stansted on an Easyjet flight legally, but once here he filled in a form indicating that he wished to claim asylum and had his papers taken away. He claims to have three relatives and a fiancée living in the UK.
“I used to fight for Assad and I am going to return to do that in Syria. Everyone says you will have a better life in the UK and it’s not true,” he told reporters who were in Croydon to cover the arrival of so-called child migrants from Calais.
He said he would recommend to those living in Calais that they return home. “It’s different for minors because they can’t support themselves but I’m a normal man and I can. I am going to camp out here and sleep here until I get my papers,” he insisted.
A short time later he was arrested by six police officers. Scotland Yard confirmed: “At around 3.30pm officers were informed of a disturbance at Lunar House.
“They arrested man on suspicion of a public order offence. He had been remanded in a south London custody suite. Enquiries continue.”
In the last few hours al-Zuebi has posted to facebook confirming he is en-route from London Heathrow to Syria, writing: “To my lovely Damascus in some hours. Home sweet home.”
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