European gangsters steal watches, jewellery worth Dhs7m in Dubai

Mohammed Yaseen, Staff Reporter

Masked European gangsters stole watches and valuable jewelry worth Dhs7 million from an exhibition on Sheikh Zayed Road in Dubai.

They broke into the showroom after breaking its glass facade using a hammer and fled on two motorcycles.

The Court of First Instance sentenced them to 3 years in jail to be followed by deportation and fined them the value of the stolen items.

The appellate court commuted the jail term to one year and upheld the fine and deportation.

The details of the case date back to April 2020, when a European gang robbed an exhibition of precious watches and jewelry with well-known brands.

A sales employee said in interrogations that he discovered crack in the side facade of the exhibition and another in the glass facade of the office in the upper floor.

He added that the glass tables inside the office were also broken.

He then discovered the theft of 36 Rolex watches, two Patek Philippe watches and another AP watch, a diamond chain, bracelets and bags valued at about Dhs7 million.

A policeman stated that a team of criminal investigations collected evidences from the scene of the theft and concluded that masked men robbed the exhibition and fled on two motorcycles, one of which was stolen from a delivery man.

The team identified the perpetrators and their location where they were arrested.

When the police searched the house of one of them, they found the stolen goods.

During the interrogations, the gangsters confessed that they planned the theft and distributed roles among themselves, as they monitored the place until they were sure it was free of passers-by.

They also confessed that they used a hammer to break the glass door to enter the exhibition and then they stole the jewellery and precious watches and fled the place on two motorbikes.

They added they concealed the stolen items at the house of one of them.