Dubai Five vegetable vendors have been accused of stealing a safe from a warehouse. The locker apparently contained 14 cheques worth Dh216,000 and Dh125,000 in cash.
One of the five defendants from Bangladesh, 22-year-old M.S., was accused of making a copy of the keys to the warehouse before he and the others sneaked in and robbed it in August.
The other four suspects were identified as 25-year-old M.O., 21-year-old M.M., 35-year-old B.M. and 33-year-old M.T.
According to the accusation sheet, prosecutors charged M.S. with stealing the safe from the warehouse where he worked in Ras Al Khor. M.O. and M.M. were charged with aiding and abetting M.S. B.M. and M.T. were accused of possessing part of the stolen money.
“I am not guilty … I did not steal any safe,” argued M.S. when he defended himself before the Dubai Court of First Instance on Tuesday. M.O. also denied the charge. Meanwhile, M.M. told presiding judge Mohammad Jamal: “Yes I aided and abetted the criminals … but it was not M.W. who carried out the robbery. It was two other suspects who remain at large.”
B.M. and M.T. claimed that they didn’t know the money that they had in their possession had been stolen.
M.S., M.O. and M.M. denied the charge of wrecking the stolen safe.
A vegetable distributor, who also hails from Bangladesh, testified to prosecutors that the incident happened after the profits of August 19 were kept in the safe and locked up for day.
“When my colleague went to open the warehouse, he discovered that the safe was stolen. The doors had been unlocked by keys as there were no signs of breaking and entering … the safe that contained the money and cheques had gone. We reported the police that M.O. could have been involved because he had earlier requested to make a copy of the warehouse’s keys. Surveillance cameras showed two suspects opening the door and stealing the safe,” claimed the distributor.
Records said the defendants were arrested one at a time.
A ruling will be heard next month.
