Dubai: A driver has been accused of stealing Dh2.22 million worth of gold bars from his boss, a tradesman, and his passport before fleeing the country.
The 46-year-old Pakistani driver, A.A., was said to have opened the safe and filled a bag with the 105 gold bars, then took his passport and left the country in June.
Prosecutors charged A.A., who remains at large, with robbing his Afghan boss, who trades in gold.
Meanwhile two Pakistani men, a guard and an employee, were accused of hiding 60 bars of the stolen gold.
A.A. failed to show up before the Dubai Court of First Instance as he remains at large.
The guard, A.I., and the employee, D.A., entered a not guilty plea when they refuted their charges before presiding judge Mohammad Jamal in courtroom three on Sunday.
According to the charge sheet, A.I. and D.A. hid the 60 gold bars in a site under construction where the guard works.
The Afghan boss testified to prosecutors that he called up A.A. to pick him up from his house in Sharjah at 10am.
“His mobile phone was switched off. I called up another person who worked for me and he informed me that he had spotted A.A. carrying a plastic bag.. Two hours later, A.A.’s mobile was still switched off… when I returned home with my wife in the evening, I realised that A.A. was still absent. I asked the person whom I had called up in the morning to check on the safe. When he opened the safe, he discovered that the gold was missing and A.A.’s passport had vanished. I reported the heist to the police,” the Afghan claimed.
A policeman testified to prosecutors that an informant tipped them that A.I. possessed part of the stolen gold.
“When we arrested the guard, he immediately confessed that D.A. had come to him and asked him to hide the stolen bars. A.I. claimed that D.A. admitted to him that the runaway [A.A.] kept the 60 gold bars in his possession because he trusted him as they are relatives,” claimed the policeman.
A ruling will be heard on November 4.
