Security camera zeroes in on visitor who stole Dh450,000

Dubai: A visitor admitted that he stole Dh450,000 from his workplace after a surveillance camera showed him leaving an elevator carrying the stolen money in an envelope.

Prosecutors said the surveillance camera footage uncovered the 25-year-old Indian visitor walking out of the company's elevator and carrying the envelope which contained the money.

The defendant, A.K., pleaded guilty when he appeared at the Dubai Court of First Instance yesterday.

"I stole the cash… I am guilty. But your honour, I returned all the money to the company," said A.K. when he defended himself before Presiding Judge Fahmi Mounir.

The Public Prosecution charged A.K. with stealing cash from the heavy trucks' transportation company. Prosecutors also charged a 27-year-old Indian driver, M.A., with possessing money which he is believed to have taken in an illegal way.

M.A. pleaded innocent at courtroom four yesterday and told Presiding Judge Mounir: "I am not guilty… I didn't know that the money was stolen." The company's 35-year-old Pakistani supervisor testified that after his manager asked him to withdraw the money from the bank, he left the cash in an envelope in his laptop bag and kept it under his desk.

An Emirati police corporal testified that primary interrogations exposed the involvement of M.A., who was arrested later in a sting operation. "… the driver cooperated with us and helped the police arrest A.K. in a sting operation in Al Qusais."

A verdict will be heard later this month.