UAE- Duo burgles mobile phone shop but loses booty

(MENAFN- Khaleej Times) A visitor and a jobless worker stood trial in the Dubai Court of First Instance accused of burgling a mobile phone shop after smashing its CCTV cameras and escaping with phones worth Dh190,000 and a safe that contained Dh80,000 in cash. Though the burglary took place in March, the pair - identified as 23-year-old visitor A.A.R. and 29-year-old A.K.A., both Asians - were arrested only in July. According to the case, the Dubai Police were informed that a mobile phone shop was robbed. Investigations showed that the culprits had damaged the CCTV cameras and the iron mesh of the store. The CCTV footage, recorded just before the cameras were smashed, showed two persons roaming near the store. The police came to know later that a couple of hours after the robbery had happened, a garbage clearing worker informed the Dubai Municipality that he had found two big bags in a garbage collection area in Al Sabkha neighbourhood. One of the bags contained a stainless steel safe and the other packets of mobile phones. The items turned out to be stolen the robbed store, but the police could not track down the suspects. In July, A.A.R. was picked up by the police in connection with another case. His fingerprints matched with those lifted from the robbed shop. When confronted with this evidence, he confessed to burgling the shop in March with an accomplice and gave the whereabouts of the latter. A.K.A., who was apprehended, also confessed to the charge. He told the police that they had loaded the stolen items on to a pick-up vehicle, but ran away leaving them in the vehicle after its driver started shouting for help from passers-by. The investigation showed that the pick-up's driver panicked when he realised that the loaded items were stolen and he threw the bags in the garbage after the duo fled fearing police action against him. The court remanded the duo in police custody till the next hearing, which was fixed for September 30, for pronouncing the verdict. Six in dock over medical۬certificate racket In another case, six Asian men have been referred by the Dubai Public Prosecution to the Court of the First Instance for allegedly offering Dh1,500 in bribe to an employee at the Dubai Municipality Clinic for issuing a medical fitness certificate to the third accused, who worked as a barber and suffered from hepatitis B. A trap was laid and the six suspects were arrested while offering the bribe money to the employee.