Dubai: A driver has been accused of breaking into a supermarket from a back door and stealing phones, phone recharge cards, tabs and Dh12,600 in cash.

The 25-year-old Pakistani driver, M.S., was said to have forced his way into the supermarket in Jebel Ali Industrial Area sometime after midnight and stole different products and cash from the register in November.

A few days later, M.S. left the country, according to records.

Police discovered that one of the stolen phones had been used by a 23-year-old Pakistani driver, M.J.

Police tracked M.J. down and detained him for questioning, during which he claimed that M.S. had lent him the phone shortly before his arrest.

According to records, further investigations revealed that M.S. was the main culprit who had broken into the supermarket while M.J. and three other Pakistani men possessed some of the stolen phones.

Prosecutors accused M.S. of theft and charged M.J. and the three other men — S.K., S.F. and M.L. — of possessing the stolen phones.

M.S. pleaded guilty, while the other four suspects pleaded not guilty when they all appeared before the Dubai Court of First Instance on Thursday.

According to the charge sheet, prosecutors said M.S. and two other suspects, who remain at large, stole 28 phones, 673 phone recharge cards, a laptop, eight iPads, a purse and Dh12,600 in cash.

The other four suspects were charged with possessing five of the stolen phones.

“Yes I carried out the heist … but S.K. did not know that the phones were stolen,” M.S. told presiding judge Urfan Omar.

“Yes I possessed the phones but I did not know that M.S. had stolen them. I kept them with me because he is my friend,” argued S.K. in courtroom three.

The supermarket owner told prosecutors that one of his workers discovered at 7am that somebody had broken into the place and robbed it.

“When the worker opened the place in the morning, he discovered several products had been thrown on the floor. He discovered that a thief or more had broken the back door and stole several items. I reported the matter to the police,” he testified to prosecutors.

A policeman told prosecutors that soon after M.J. used the phone, the police apprehended him and took him in for questioning.

“He was out of the country … but he was arrested once he returned. During questioning, he claimed that M.S. gave him a phone that he used for a period of time and then when he travelled to Pakistan, he gifted it to his friend there. After further interrogation, we apprehended the other suspects,” he testified.

S.K. was quoted as telling prosecutors that M.S. went to his house and asked him to keep with him five phones because he [M.S.] had to travel.

A ruling will be heard on August 18.