UAE | Crime
Man imprisoned for role in watch heists
A Croatian man has been jailed for his role in the daring heists that netted Dh20 million in watches from Ahmad Seddiqi and Sons outlets in the BurJuman Centre and Wafi City in 2006.
- By Bassam Za'za', Senior Reporter
- Published: 23:27 November 27, 2008
Dubai: A Croatian man has been jailed for his role in the daring heists that netted Dh20 million in watches from Ahmad Seddiqi and Sons outlets in the BurJuman Centre and Wafi City in 2006.
The Dubai Court of First Instance handed a five-year sentence to the 32-year-old Croatian, who was arrested abroad earlier this year as a result of the vigilance of Dubai police and with the assistance of Interpol.
The accused, who denied participating in the theft of 171 watches, will be deported after serving his prison term.
The verdict can be appealed within 15 days.
When he appeared before the court, the man pleaded not guilty to assisting an unknown number of thieves who broke into the Ahmad Seddiqi and Sons stores in the two malls, stole the watches and escaped on motorbikes.
The Public Prosecutor charged Z.A. with planning the heists and supplying masks, hammers and other equipment to the men who committed the robbery.
Investigators believe the thieves rode motorcycles to the malls, broke the stores' plate-glass doors and display shelves before speeding away with the watches.
An unknown number of suspects are still at large.
Last year, the Dubai Court of Cassation upheld a three-year prison term against a Yugoslavian woman, S.R., who was found guilty of aiding and abetting in the heists and possessing a bag which contained most of the stolen watches.
She will be deported after serving her term.
In her statement to the court, S.R. claimed she did not know the watches found in her possession were stolen.
The prosecutor contends that in March 2006, S.R. entered the country on a visitor's visa and booked into a hotel.
S.R. is believed to have assisted the other suspects to buy the equipment they needed to commit the robberies after reconnoitring the shopping malls.
According to police, the suspects took the watches they stole from the first store to the woman at the hotel before committing the second heist. They then travelled to the second store and repeated the same pattern.
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