Gang of 11 accused of Dh1.7m heist in Dubai

Dubai: A woman and ten men are accused of taking part in a Dh1.7 million heist at a mobile phone shop. One of the shop workers had a knife held to his throat and was told he would be killed if he did not cooperate, a court heard on Wednesday.

Six of the defendants, three Georgians, a Russian, an Uzbek and a Kazakh, have been charged with forcing their way into the shop in Naif. Four of the suspects are said to have tied up the shop’s two Iranian employees. The other two defendants are said to have acted as lookouts.

A Russian man has been accused of masterminding the heist and inciting the defendants to carry it out.

The Russian woman and another Russian man were charged with possessing the stolen money by hiding it in the woman’s home

A Russian worker was also accused of possessing part of the stolen money.

Meanwhile, a Georgian visitor was charged with aiding two of the thieves by providing them with shelter at his flat — although he knew that they were wanted by the police.

Four of the suspects admitted before the Dubai Court of First Instance that they forced their way into the shop but denied taking the money.

One of them, a 26-year-old Georgian, B.J., said before presiding judge Maher Salama Al Mahdi: “I was the only one who carried a knife … we stormed into the shop and threatened the staff, but we did not steal.”

The defendants who are charged with being lookouts, claimed they drove the four suspects (accused of raiding the shop) and left.

All the remaining defendants denied the accusations.

The woman’s lawyer asked the court to grant her bail because her husband is serving a ten-year jail term and she has no one to care for her five children, who are all under the age of 15.

One of the shop’s employees testified to prosecutors: “Four men walked into the shop. One of them asked me about my colleague, but I told him that he was off. Then one of them showed me a bag, claiming that it contained Dh5 million that he wanted to transfer to Russia. I told him that our shop did not carry out such transactions. Suddenly one of them took out a knife and placed it at my neck. They threatened to kill me and they asked me to take out all the money from the register and hand it over to them.”

Records said the suspects were identified and arrested one at a time.

Some of them were arrested in Sharjah and others were arrested in Dubai. The trial continues.