Shoes lead to arrest of store’s ‘cigarette thief ’

dubai — A thief’s shoes and walk gave away his identity on CCTV even as he tried to escape the surveillance cameras while stealing cigarette boxes from a warehouse.

The accused, a salesman, was charged with two counts of theft from his workplace as he stood trial at the Dubai Court of First Instance.

According to public prosecution records, the 22-year-old Indian first stole cigarette boxes worth Dh8,380 from a supermarket warehouse in October last year.

He was then terminated as he was suspected of carrying out the theft, although no evidence was found against him.

However, after CCTV cameras were installed in the warehouse in December, he was caught stealing 13 such boxes from the warehouse. It was his shoes and walk that exposed him this time.

The theft incidents were reported to the Bur Dubai police station.

During the public prosecution investigation, an Indian administrative manager, 42, recounted how cigarette boxes went missing from the warehouse of their supermarket.

“We first suspected the accused as he was authorised to enter the warehouse. He also seemed well-off even though his salary was not more than Dh800. But we had no proof against him.

“We terminated him and started his visa cancellation procedure. He was supposed to leave the country in December 2018. The cigarette boxes, however, continued to go missing.

“We then installed surveillance cameras inside the warehouse. As we were checking the footage, we spotted the thief, who seemed to be aware of the cameras and hid from them. But we found that the shoes and walk were that of the defendant. We reported him to the police and he was arrested after the cop checked the surveillance cameras.”

The cigarette boxes that the accused allegedly stole while he was still on the job were worth Dh8,380.

After he left the job, he reportedly stole 13 more boxes that were worth Dh31,605.

The footage was submitted by the public prosecution as evidence. A ruling will be issued later this month.