Husband, wife locked up for laptop heist in Dubai

Hamza M Sengendo, Staff Reporter

A man and his wife caught for stealing a laptop from a trading centre have been sent to spend three months behind bars after they will be deported.

The Arab defendant, 27, and his compatriot wife, 39, used pliers to cut a security cable lock attached to the casing of the Dhs3,859 MacBook laptop. The wife walked out carrying it in her handbag, records showed.

Prosecutors also accused them of damaging the cable lock. During a hearing on Sept.23 the defendant argued, “I did not take part. Even the witness said he reviewed CCTV footage and saw her picking a laptop.

“The footage showed her placing it in the cart then placing it inside her bag.” He added, “Two days later, I received a call from the police asking me to go to the police station. I was falsely implicated in the case.”

The wife admitted, “I am the one who stole it. I was alone.” She denied having used any tool. She presented a defence memo. But, the Dubai Criminal Court has found both of them guilty of theft and property damage.

On the record, the shopping centre’s Indian director of security said the electronics section’s manager told him he searched the racks on May 2 and detected the laptop was missing. He supposed it was stolen.

“I reviewed all surveillance footage and saw a woman standing within racks of laptops at around 10.20pm on April 18. She picked a box containing a MacBook laptop and placed it in a shopping cart she was pushing.

“She then went to the cooking utensils section, picked several items and placed them on top of the box containing the laptop to hide it. She went to the cleaning tools section. She met a man (the defendant) there.

“He helped her place the box in her handbag. The man appeared throwing something within racks.

“They discussed briefly then walked out of the centre through different exits,” explained the director of security.

He added that they confirmed the duo stole the laptop. “We searched for the cable lock and found it within racks where the duo met.

They used a sharp tool to cut and pluck it off the box and remove the laptop.”

Before police and prosecutors, the wife confessed to have stolen the laptop. The husband tried to argue that he had no role in the theft but photos extracted surveillance footage invalidated his contention.

Prosecutors confirmed he was the man spotted on CCTV footage throwing the cable within racks.