Security guard on trial for Dh73m heist
Diamond stolen from the company’s vault was later smuggled out of the country
Legal and Court Correspondent
Asecurity guard working for a money transfer company stood trial yesterday for stealing a diamond worth Dh73 million, belonging to a United Statesbased, high-end jewellery retailer.
A former manager at the Dubai-based money transfer company was said to have reported the robbery of the rare 9.33 carat precious stone to Dubai Police, after the suspected burglar broke through three security gates to reach the company’s vault last May 25.
CCTV footage
According to records, officers and crime-scene investigators from Dubai Police headed to the company’s vault at the Dubai International Airport’s free zone, before primary interrogations and CCTV footage revealed the involvement of the 37-year-old Sri Lankan security guard.
Records said that further interrogations revealed that the security guard had stolen the diamond and put it in a box that he later gave to his compatriot relative. The latter then smuggled the stone out of the UAE through a cargo company, by concealing it in a shoe box.
Shortly after that, Dubai Police apprehended the security guard and another Sri Lankan worker, 38, who had allowed the former to use his home in Sharjah as a hideout. The police are still searching for the relative of the security guard who had smuggled the diamond out of the UAE.
Prosecutors have accused the security guard and charged the worker of aiding the former evade justice.
Pleading ‘not guilty’
The main suspect pleaded guilty when he appeared before the Dubai Court of First Instance yesterday.
The other suspect, the worker, pleaded not guilty to the charge of aiding the security guard escape justice. “Yes, I housed him in Sharjah, but I did not know that he had committed a heist,” he told presiding judge Habib Awad.
A police sergeant told prosecutors: “During questioning, the 37-year-old suspect admitted that he had planned the heist in collaboration with the other suspect who is now on the run.”
A verdict will be heard on October 18.