Guards, pals jailed for Dhs9m factory heist

Hamza M Sengendo, Staff Reporter

Factory guards who helped compatriot robbers snatch Dhs8.9m worth of cables and machines will spend two years in jail with them, a court ruled on Thursday.

The Asian defendant, 25, and his workmate, 26, teamed up with a jobless man, 28, and his fugitive accomplice to steal cables, machines and devices from a glass and aluminium factory in Dubai Industrial City, records showed.

They raided on separate occasions between Dec.2018 and February. They sold the loot to an Asian scrap dealer, 28. Prosecutors accused him of possessing and dealing in items while aware they were stolen.

Prosecutors demanded a stringent punishment. The Dubai Criminal Court sentenced all of them to two years behind bars plus deportation and ordered they be referred to the competent Civil Court for further action.

An Egyptian official said he was reviewing the inventory when he stumbled on cut and damaged cables. “Cables linking machines considered the factory’s infrastructure were stolen. All stolen items were worth Dhs8, 929, 801,” he said.

An Emirati lieutenant said he rushed to the scene and discovered the robbery activities targeted warehouses situated inside fences. They were only accessible through one main gate manned by the two guards in shifts.

One was for the night shift and the other for the day. “We summoned one of them, the defendant. The probe showed he was complicit. He confessed and said he connived with robbers who rewarded him with Dhs25,000.

“He said he had the sum at home. We searched his flat and seized Dhs27,000. On being asked about his accomplices he said his workmate was the one who introduced the fugitive robber to him,” explained the lieutenant.

During interrogations, the workmate said he let two robbers into the warehouses to steal cables six times in November and December last year. They paid him Dhs45,000 of which he wired Dhs30,000 to his homeland.

Police searched his flat and seized Dhs7,000 plus money transfer receipts worth Dhs33, 420.