Dubai salesman steals luxury watches worth Dhs8.3m, blackmailed into selling some at throwaway prices

Sohaila Ahmed, Staff Reporter

The Dubai Public Prosecution referred a 26-year-old Asian salesman to the criminal court for stealing 86 luxury watches, worth Dhs8.3 million, from a jewellery shop.

The suspect committed the robbery with the help of two other runaway accomplices, and sold two watches to his colleague for Dhs10,000 and convinced him not to report the theft.

On being asked why he sold expensive watches for just Dhs10,000, he said that he was blackmailed by his friend who knew about the thefts, and was forced to sell the watches for him.

The robbery came to light when the victim, who owns several jewellery shops, found one of the staff members with a white box, which he claimed to have found inside a trashcan.

The box contained a luxury steel-gold watch worth Dhs30,000.

At first, the victim thought that the watch had mistakenly fallen into the trashcan; but when the victim scanned the surveillance cameras it was found that the suspect was the one who stole the watch, and hid it in a box inside the trashcan to easily get it out of the shop later on.

When confronted with the findings, the suspect denied committing the robbery.

The victim summoned the suspect’s brother, who works as manager at one of his shops, and asked the suspect about the theft again.

Under duress, he eventually confessed to committing multiple thefts, including two watches worth Dhs250,000, and Dhs270,000, which he sold for Dhs10,000 each.