Dubai arrests man impersonating celebrity US surgeon: media
AFP
DUBAI- Dubai police have arrested a man impersonating a US celebrity cosmetic surgeon and operating on women attracted by his rock-bottom fees, local newspapers reported on Tuesday.
The 69-year-old general practitioner performed plastic surgery on women in his private villa, leaving his patients with serious complications, the Gulf News daily reported.
He operated in the United Arab Emirates under the name of Dr. Steven Hopping, a renowned American surgeon who has been featured in newspapers and magazines in the United States and who formerly headed the American Academy of Cosmetic Surgery in the United States.
The Dubai skyline.
"The operating conditions were so primitive that he discarded the removed fat into a cooking pot," the newspaper quoted Qadir as saying.
The operation "requires a special disposal machine which he did not have," she said.
The Arabic-language Emarat al-Youm identified the fake surgeon as Steven Moose.
Qadir said that the imposter was exposed after one of Hopping's patients sent the celebrity surgeon a copy of the fraudster's business card and asked, "Is this really you?"
Hopping told Emarat al-Youm from Washington that the fraudster is wanted for trading in uncertified medical supplies and sedatives, and that he has committed several violations in more than one country.
"This person went to Dubai to continue his illegal medical activities," the newspaper quoted the Harvard-educated surgeon as saying.
Police sources told the press that the fake surgeon has been on Interpol's Red Notice alert since 2008 and was once arrested and released by UAE authorities because the United States did not follow up on his case.
Qadir said she suspected that many women knew that the fraudster was not a certified surgeon but went to him anyway because his fees were as low as 500 dirhams (136 dollars).
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