Quartet shackled for ransacking power plants

Hamza M Sengendo, Staff Reporter

Two watchmen who ganged up with two countrymen to rob Dhs1.4m electric items from two power plants have been incarcerated with them.

The Asian watchman, 25, and his workmate, 26, robbed seven transformers, several electric cables and other electric items worth Dhs1, 434, 642 from two plants of a utilities authority in the Dubai Industrial City.

They sought the help of a countryman, 28, and a fugitive accomplice to accomplish the robbery mission. They sold the stolen items to a scrap shop owner for much less than their value, prosecutors explained. The Dubai Criminal Court sentenced them to one year behind bars. Prosecutors accused the Asian scrap dealer, 28, of having purchased the electric items from the quartet while aware they resulted from robbery.

The court found him guilty. It sentenced him to three months in prison. It ordered that he and the quartet be deported after serving their prison terms. The ruling remains subject to appeal within fourteen days.

In police and prosecution records, the authority’s Emirati engineer said the command and control room alerted them around 9am on Mar.17 that the power plants malfunctioned. “I found the items stolen,” he said. An Emirati lieutenant said the incident happened beside a glass and aluminum factory (which they also robbed of Dhs8.9 million items in a separate case). The power plants were situated in the factory’s premises.

Police questioned the defendant over the robbery in question. He confessed and said he was guarding the factory and the plants when he allowed the fugitive accomplice and others to access the premises and rob.

He said they rewarded him with Dhs25, 000. His workmate upon arrest revealed he allowed the fugitive and his cohorts enter and rob. They rewarded him with Dhs45, 000. He sent Dhs30, 000 to his home country.

Further police investigations showed their countryman took part. Police were tracing his whereabouts when a source tipped them about another similar raid that targeted power plants in Sharjah’s Al Madam area. Members of the gang had targeted a sports club and decamped with electric cables. Both robberies took place between November 2018 and March this year, according to records at the Jebel Ali Police Station.

Police issued circulars, tracked down and arrested the countryman. Police learnt they sold the items to the scrap dealer in Sharjah Industrial Area. He admitted to buying them at night and away from his shop.

An Emirati corporal said, “I questioned the watchman. He confessed and acknowledged that the robbers rewarded him with cash.”