Four Asians jailed and fined in theft case

Dubai:agangoffourasiansstoledhs1.7millionfrom a safe inside the apartment of a partner engaged in selling virtual currencies after tying and assaulting him. The Dubai Criminal Court sentenced them to three years in jail to be followed by deportation and fined them the same stolen amount.

The case dated back to last March when an Asian filed a complaint in which he stated that he had been assaulted inside his house in Naif area where the perpetrators stole Dhs1.7 million from a safe that belonged to his partner who was engaged in selling virtual currencies.

The victim stated in the investigations that he heard somebody knocking on the door of his house and as soon as he opened it, he saw an Asian who said he was sorry for seemingly coming to the wrong address. However, when the victim was about to shut the door, the man and three others pushed the door and one of them put a knife to his neck after he pushed him to the floor and crouched over his chest.

The gang members tied his hands and feet with a plastic rope and were able to get the key of an iron safe that was placed under the table, the victim said, adding that the perpetrators opened the safe and took all the money that belonged to his partner before they ran away. The victim was later able to untie himself and reported the incident to his partner and the police.

The victim’s partner said in the investigations that he received a phone call from his partner in which he stated that some people stole the money he kept in a safe in his apartment. He rushed to the victim’s apartment where he saw the tied victim in a state of great panic, while the apartment was in a mess and the safe open and empty, he added.

Following intensive investigations and after gathering inferences, the police found that the gang members illegally entered the country and intended to leave it as soon as they had stolen the money. The police later arrested them with part of the stolen money estimated at Dhs900,000 in their possession.

On interrogation, the defendants confessed to stealing money from the victim’s house and dividing the money among them.