Dubai: A man has been accused of stealing precious stones worth Dh11 m from his employer, a Dubai court heard on Sunday.
The man, who is at large, allegedly stole a bag containing the precious stones before handing it over to three other suspects who are also on trial for possessing the stolen stones.
They told the judge that they were asked to keep the stones and didn’t know they were stolen.
Prosecutors charged the three Indian men with possessing the stones worth Dh10.8 million in April this year and charged the fourth man with stealing rough emeralds from his employer.
The 25-year-old British manager of a company which buys and sells rough precious stones, said he received a shipment of precious stones and put it inside a big iron safe at the company office in Al Barsha area.
“I locked the safe and later my father came and asked me about them. When we opened the safe the stones were missing,” the manager said.
When CCTV footage was checked, the defendant was seen switching off the cameras inside the office where the safe was kept and another footage showed him leaving the office with bags. “We discovered that he left the country the same day and we reported the incident to Dubai Police,” the British manager added.
Dubai Police recovered a big amount of the precious stones from the defendant’s friends and family members who are now on trial.
“The main defendant contacted my father from his home country and asked him to come to him to take the rest of the stolen emeralds and my father flew there and got the stones back,” the manager said.
The trio denied the charges and trial was adjourned till next month.
