Dubai: A jobless man has been accused of being part of a gang that trespassed into a construction site and stole a 170-metre-long electric cable.
The 33-year-old Pakistani man and other suspects who remain at large were said to have jumped the boundary wall of the construction site after midnight and stole the cable worth Dh22,000 in January 2015.
The man and the runaway suspects were believed to have used an iron cutter, according to records, to cut the electric cable, take it out of the construction site and run away.
The construction site supervisor reported the theft to the police once they discovered that the cable was missing the next morning.
Preliminary investigation led to the arrest of the 33-year-old. Prosecutors accused the suspect of stealing electric cables.
According to the accusation sheet, prosecutors said the suspect and the runaway suspects formed a gang that specialised in stealing electric cables from construction sites. On the day of the incident, the gang trespassed into the site and used an iron cutter to cut the 170m cable and steal it.
The suspect pleaded not guilty when he appeared before the Dubai Court of First Instance on Wednesday.
A police corporal claimed to prosecutors: “When I questioned the suspect, he admitted that one of the gang members jumped over the site’s wall and then opened the door for them from inside … then they cut the electric cable, loaded it in a car and fled.”
The 33-year-old suspect was quoted as admitting that he and the absconders trespassed into the site in Al Quoz and stole the cable.
A ruling will be heard April 30.
