Sheep stand in a field. Photographer: Gerard Julien / AFP

HAMZA M. SENGENDO

DUBAI: Three men allegedly behind a spate of livestock robberies landed in court on Monday for having broken into a Dubai farm and fled with nine sheep.

The Asian defendants –a labourer, 27, his colleague, 34, and a driver, 25- stole the sheep from a farm in Tay area at night on Oct.11.2018 and sold some of them at a livestock market in Sharjah, the Dubai Criminal Court heard.    

The labourer used metal scissors to cut a hole in the farm’s fence. He snatched the nine sheep worth around Dhs22, 500. The colleague and driver helped cram them inside an SUV, according to records at Al Hebab Police Station.

During court questioning, the defendants refuted the allegations. The driver who reportedly drove the getaway SUV presented a defence memo. Prosecutors demanded a tough punishment. The jury set Mar.18 for the verdict.

On the record, an Emirati warrant officer said that the sheep owner –an Arab man- contacted the police complaining that his sheep were missing and that he had come across footprints and tyre tracks around a hole cut in the fence.

Police were investigating the robbery when the police operations room received a complaint from another victim about the theft of ten sheep from a farm in Al Aweer.  Investigators found them stashed inside farm in the area.

Suspicion hovered around the trio. Regarding the robbery in question, the labourer explained how he snatched sheep and the colleague and driver packed them in the vehicle. They kept them inside the farm where the colleague worked.

The colleague revealed that the next day they took them to the market and sold them at Dhs3, 300.  The driver explained that they sold five sheep at the market at Dhs1, 750 and sold the rest to people visiting the colleague’s workplace at Dhs350 each.