An Argentinian TV reporter, who arrived in Qatar to cover the FIFA World Cup, had a horrible experience right at the beginning as she was robbed on the first day of the tournament. While the incident was understandably harrowing, the woman was left stunned when she reported the robbery to the cops. Though the cops offered her full support, suggesting the robber would be tracked down in little to no time by the use of high-security cameras that are deployed in the country, it was when they asked her suggestion for punishment that she was left dumbstruck.
The woman, by the name of Dominique Metzger, was doing a live show when the robbery happened. As per the claims, several items from her handbag were stolen. The footage of the live coverage also went viral on social media.
"I went to the station and that was when the cultural differences began. The policewoman said to me: 'We have high-tech cameras everywhere and we are going to locate him [the thief] with face detection. What do you want the justice system to do when we find him?'," Metzger said, as per Mirror UK.
"What justice do you want? What sentence do you want us to give him? Do you want him to be sentenced to five years in prison? Do you want him to be deported?", she added.
A number of journalists have had trouble while reporting in Qatar. Earlier, a Danish journalist was asked to stop filming while producing a piece for his channel. The tournament organisers later apologised to the reporter, admitting that the reporter was mistakenly interrupted.
"Tournament organisers are aware of an incident where a Danish broadcast crew was mistakenly interrupted during a live broadcast in one of Qatar's tourist destinations," an official statement from the authorities said on the matter.
"Upon inspection of the crew's valid tournament accreditation and filming permit, an apology was made to the broadcaster by on-site security before the crew resumed their activity.
"Tournament organisers have since spoken to the journalist and issued an advisory to all entities to respect the filming permits in place for the tournament."
The FIFA World Cup began with the hosts Qatar facing a 2-0 defeat at the hands of Ecuador on Sunday.