Eight land in jail for Dhs488,000 cables’ heist

Hamza M Sengendo, Staff Reporter

A gang of eight repeat offenders behind the robbery of Dhs488, 250 electric cables will spend one year in jail to be followed by deportation.

The seven unemployed Asian men and a compatriot driver (aged between 21 and 40) broke into ten warehouses in Al Quoz Industrial Area and decamped with cables and distribution boxes on the night of May 6.

They used a screwdriver, a crowbar and scissors to smash door locks. The warehouses belonged to the company of an Emirati businessman, 56. Prosecutors accused them of robbery and damaging property.

In court, thy refuted the charges and contended that they never committed the crimes and that even their earlier confessions were obtained under duress. However, the Dubai Criminal Court’s jury found them guilty.

In prosecution records, an Emirati warrant officer explained, “Investigations revealed the burglars accessed the warehouses by smashing locks. They collected cables, extension systems and conversion devices.

“A source told us the defendants in question constituted a gang specialising in burgling warehouses. They targeted warehouses in Bur Dubai using the same method of smashing locks using screwdrivers.”

They would monitor warehouses until they confirm there were no security guards. They would use sharp tools to cut electric cables and carry them away. Police tracked and netted them in Al Quoz on June 26. 

“During their arrest, I and the police team showed them our military IDs,” explained the warrant officer. “However, they posed fierce resistance upon realising we were policemen. They attempted to escape.”

The criminal pursuit team pinned them down and referred them to the competent criminal investigations body. During interrogations, they confessed and revealed they were behind a wave of similar robberies. One of the gang members took the warrant officer to the warehouses in question and confirmed he and the others broke into them.  Each of the other members took other policemen and made similar confessions.

Another Emirati warrant officer gave a similar account, adding that during interrogations the defendants confessed before him and each one told him that they had set up a gang to burgle Al Quoz warehouses.

“Each one explained how he and his colleagues entered the warehouses in question by smashing door locks using metal scissors. They sold cables, extension systems and conversion devices and shared the proceeds.”