Two get 10 years jail for stealing Dh2.8m from businessman

SUSPECTS ON THE RUN, WHILE WOMAN WHO CONCEALED MONEY IS JAILED FOR 3 YEARS

Two men have been sentenced to 10 years in jail each for beating a company owner in public and stealing Dh2.8 million he was carrying in a laptop bag.

The Russian duo, 43-yearold M.M. and 35-year-old A.S., who remain at large, shadowed the Chinese man after he withdrew money from an exchange house and then a bank in Naif before they mugged him in September.

The Dubai Court of First Instance convicted M.M. and A.S. of using physical violence and robbing the Chinese victim.

Presiding judge Ezzat Abdul Lat also sentenced a 39-yearold Tajik woman, Z.A., to three years in jail for aiding and abetting the absconders. The two men were tried in absentia.

Z.A. confessed before presiding judge Abdul Lat that she kept part of the stolen money.

“I took part of the money from them, but later I gave it to the police. Two weeks before the heist, I accompanied the duo to the man’s place … then they mugged him,” she said in court.

“The defendants will be deported after serving their punishments,” said presiding judge Abdul Lat in courtroom three.

The victim, T.B., said he withdrew Dh2 million from the exchange house and Dh800,000 from the bank before he was mugged.

“My company trades in clothes and shoes. I withdrew the cash and put it in the laptop bag after 2pm. I was near a hotel heading home, when two men took me by surprise and attacked me. They beat me and kicked me. They snatched the bag and ran away. I was not aware they had been tailing me,” the Chinese said.

A police lieutenant said the Russians were seen on CCTV cameras mugging the company owner.

“Primary interrogations also revealed the involvement of Z.A. and a fourth suspect [who used to drive the Chinese man to the bank] in the heist. In October, Z.A. and the fourth man were detained at Al Buraimi checkpoint trying to leave the country. Police recovered around Dh2 million in Z.A.’s flat in Al Buraimi,” said the lieutenant.

Records said Z.A. had been sentenced to three years in jail followed by deportation for her involvement in a similar case in which she was accused of aiding and abetting in a Dh2 million heist.

The Tajik was said to have participated in the Dh2.8 million heist while she was on bail in the case of Dh2 million heist.

Yesterday’s ruling is subject to appeal within 15 days.