Three-year sentence for villa burglars confirmed

Appeal court upholds punishment for 3 men who stole Dh410,000 worth of valuables

The Dubai Court of Appeal upheld the three-year sentence given to a gang of three Chinese men who stole Dh410,000 worth of valuables from a villa in Jumeriah.

Prosecutors said that a 42-year-old Chinese man was the mastermind behind the burglary, and was aided by his countrymen, aged 33 and 31.

On October 25, 2017, the men jumped over the villa’s fence and forced open the villa’s main door and smashed open a wardrobe’s lock.

They stole a safe containing three wristwatches, personal documents, cash and keys including that of the owner’s car.

A Saudi national testified that he called Dubai Police after informing his uncle, who owned the villa, about the burglary.

Dubai Police launched an investigation and officers from Al Barsha Police Station examined the villa and collected evidence which led them to the mastermind of the gang who was arrested in January 2018.

The suspect confessed during the prosecution’s questioning that he entered the country on October 23 with the intention to rob residential villas in Dubai. He met with two other Chinese men who became his accomplices.

The trio were sentenced by Dubai Court of First Instance to three years in prison each, to be followed by deportation. One of them was sentenced in absentia.