Five jailed and fined for stealing shoe box full of money in Dubai

Mohammed Yaseen, Staff Reporter

The Dubai Criminal Court sentenced a gang of five Asians to two years in jail to be followed by deportation and fined them Dhs432,000 for stealing the same amount of the fine from a shoe box of a fellow man while he was trying to get into a bus in Hor Al Anz area.

Dubai Police managed to arrest two of the defendants, who were referred to the public prosecution and from there to the Dubai Criminal Court.

The incident, which took place in a bus station in Hor Al Anz area, dated back to last April when an Asian reported to the police that he had been robbed.

According to his statement, while he was getting into a bus, a man obstructed him while he was boarding a bus, causing a plastic bag containing a shoebox and Dhs432,000 to fall from his hand.

The man stole the shoebox with the help of another man and ran away with others to a vehicle that was waiting for them in the same place, he said, adding that the money belonged to some of his friends, who asked him to remit it to their home country.

A policeman stated that a team of detectives managed to spot and arrest the first defendant and the vehicle driver.

On interrogation, the defendant admitted that he was a friend of the victim and that he had earlier given him Dhs8,000 to be remitted to his family in his home country. The victim, however, did not remit the money and rejected to give it back, he added.

So, he agreed with the other defendants, who are still at large, to get the money back from the victim, he said, adding that the defendants kept an open eye on the victim until they managed to steal a bag that was in his possession, claiming that he did not know that the box contained that amount of money.  

The second defendant stated that the first defendant asked him to give him a lift to Hor Al Anz area, wait for him and then take him to another place on the same day of the incident in return for Dhs1,000, adding that he agreed to the defendant’s offer but denied any connection to the theft.