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Four jailed over Dh2.1m smartphones heist [Gulf News (United Arab Emirates)]
[September 21, 2014]

Four jailed over Dh2.1m smartphones heist [Gulf News (United Arab Emirates)]


(Gulf News (United Arab Emirates) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Dubai: Four jobless men, who broke into a mobile phone shop and stole 240 smartphones worth Dh1.6 million and Dh500,000 in cash, have been jailed for three years each.

The quartet, three Afghans and a Pakistani, were said to have used an iron cutter to break open the locks and enter the shop some time after midnight when they carried out the nearly Dh2 million worth heist in May.

The Dubai Court of First Instance convicted the Pakistani, J.K., and his three Afghan accomplices, J.Z., M.K. and S.B., of breaking and entering and stealing 240 iPhones and Samsung phones that were stacked in 11 boxes and the cash [Dh500,000]. They were also found guilty of damaging the Naif-based shop's locks and front entrance.



Prosecutors accused the fouor, aged between 20 and 32, and another suspect who remains at large, of using a hard tool to break into the shop and carry out the heist.

A Pakistani driver, M.A., and his countryman salesman, A.A., were also charged with possessing the stolen smartphones.


According to Sunday's ruling, presiding judge Mohammad Jamal jailed A.A. for three months for possessing the stolen items. Meanwhile, M.A. was cleared over uncorroborated evidence.

J.K., J.Z., M.K., S.B. and A.A. will be deported following the completion of their jail terms.

The defendants entered a not guilty plea.

The mobile shop's Pakistani manager told prosecutors that he kept Dh1.6 million worth of phones stacked in 11 boxes in the shop and Dh720,000 in cash in the cash register before closing at 12.30am.

"Next morning, an employee phoned me at 10.30am and informed me that the shop had been burgled. When I went to check, I was surprised to the shutter cut and the doors broken. I immediately informed the shop's owner, who called the police," he claimed.

A policeman testified that when police examined the crime scene, they discovered that the culprits had used a big iron cutter.

Records said primary police interrogations and the surveillance cameras fixed at the shop helped identify the defendants.

Meanwhile, prosecution records said Dubai Police's forensic report confirmed that the quartet's fingerprints matched those lifted from the crime scene. Sunday's ruling remains subject to appeal within 15 days.

(c) 2014 Al Nisr Publishing LLC . All rights reserved. Provided by SyndiGate Media Inc. (Syndigate.info).

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