Visitors jailed for ransacking pilot’s villa

Hamza M Sengendo, Staff Reporter

Three visitors who broke into a French pilot’s villa and decamped with valuables were on Tuesday sent to spend two years behind bars.

The Asian defendant, 39, his colleague, 29, and a countryman, 39, broke into the villa in Silicon Oasis and decamped with a safe worth Dhs300 on the night of Oct.6, according to records at Rashidiyah Police Station.

The safe contained a hard disk, personal documents, passports, pilot licences, a EUR6,000 men’s watch and a EUR2,000 women’s watch. It also contained three gold rings studded with EUR10,000 gemstones, he said.

They broke into the villa using crowbars and screwdrivers, took the safe to a sandy area, smashed it open and removed the valuables. During court questionings, the trio denied the charge and sought to be cleared.

CID officers caught the defendant with a bag containing two crowbars, a torch, two caps and a pair of gloves. They searched their flat in Dubai International City and seized two crowbars and two screwdrivers.

The Dubai Criminal Court’s jury found them guilty of the burglary. It sentenced them to two years behind bars after which they will be deported. The jury also ordered that the seized burglary tools be confiscated.

On the record, the pilot, 45, went to put something in the safe and found it missing. He and his wife contacted the police. During investigations, a source alerted the police that the trio was behind the robbery.

An Emirati lieutenant said the defendant and his colleague confessed and testified against the countryman. They said they went to the scene in a car driven by the colleague who had obtained it from a rental office.

They carried with them burglary tools, masks and gloves. They chose to target the villa as its lights were off. The defendant and the countryman stepped out of the car. The colleague remained inside keeping a watch.

The defendant and the countryman rang the bell several times until they confirmed there was no one inside the villa. They wore masks and gloves and scaled its fence. They entered it through an unlocked window.

They carried the safe to the car and drove to a nearby sandy area. They smashed it using sharp tools and removed the valuables. They chucked the safe and documents there. They sent the rings to their homeland.

Prosecutors said the defendant and the colleague also confessed during further stages of interrogations and took CID officers to the villa in question. They explained how they ransacked it with the help of their countryman.