8 get death for cash exchange robbery

sharjah — Eight African nationals were handed the death penalty after the Criminal Court of Sharjah found them guilty of robbing a money exchange centre in the emirate. Another defendant was sentenced to six months in jail for being in possession of stolen money.

Along with the robbery, the defendants also faced a charge of assaulting public officials.

Court records showed that as soon as the robbery incident was reported to the Sharjah Police, the authorities reviewed the footage from CCTV cameras and lifted the fingerprints from the money exchange centre.

It was found that the men entered the centre just before it closed, threatened the employees, and took the money by force. The police were able to track them down in less than 48 hours, arresting them in different parts of the country and recovering huge amounts of foreign currencies.

Some of them admitted to the crime, while others denied any involvement. One defendant, in particular, claimed he didn’t know that the money caught in his possession was stolen. He told the court that a brother of one of the accused called him up from abroad and asked him to wire an amount of Dh60,000, which he would be getting from the man.

Granting the request of his friend, the defendant took the money and transferred it, without knowing it had been stolen, he said. He added that he had only learnt about the theft when he was caught by the police, and that he didn’t know any of the eight men personally.

dh60K Cash transferred to brother of a convict