Three Indians deny Dh10.8m emeralds theft

Three men arrested with precious stones worth Dh10.8 million in their possession told Dubai Criminal Court they were looking after them and did not know they were stolen.

“He gave it to us to keep it, but we didn’t know it was stolen,” the Indian men told judges, referring to a fourth man who remains at large.

Prosecutors charged the three with possessing the stolen items in April this year and charged the fourth man with stealing rough emeralds from his employer – a company that buys and sells precious stones.

The manager of the company, a Briton, said the jewels disappeared while his father, the owner, was travelling.

“I received the shipment of rough emeralds on April 5 this year while my father was out of the country. I kept it in a large safe, and when my father returned the following day, it wasn’t there,” he said.

Security cameras showed the defendant at large switching off cameras in the office where the safe was kept.

“On April 7, we saw the defendant on camera leaving my father’s office carrying bags, then we discovered that he stole Dh59,000 in cash as well and left the country the same day,” said the manager, who reported the incident to police.

When the man’s friends were arrested, police found some emeralds in their possession.

Court records did not reveal how police came to arrest the three men who confessed during questioning to having been given the stones to store.

But a police officer said the men became frightened when they found out what was in the bag “and decided to keep the bag until the man returned”.

The next hearing will be on October 10.