Dubai: A visitor has been jailed for one year for breaking into an electronics shop and stealing 558 smartphones and 51 iPads worth around Dh750,000.
The 32-year-old Afghan visitor, S.A., was a member of an Afghan gang that broke into the shop in Naif area in June 2014.
Three other Afghan defendants were arrested, tried and convicted earlier.
The Dubai Court of First Instance convicted S.A. of breaking into the shop and stealing despite his having pleaded not guilty.
“I am a porter and did not know that they were stealing. One of them asked me to carry a box, but I did not know that the devices were stolen,” said S.A. in court when he defended himself.
Presiding judge Urfan Omar said the accused will be deported following the completion of his punishment.
The Afghan gang stole different kinds of smartphones including 17 gold-plated iPhones, according to records.
The shop-owner, an Afghan businessman, testified that when he went to his shop the next day, he discovered that the glass door had been broken. “The locks had been broken and thrown on the pavement. When I entered the shop, I realised that it had been burgled because hundreds of smartphones were missing. Surveillance cameras showed two men breaking the locks, three men carrying out the heist while three others stood outside watching the place. The heist took place at 3am,” he said.
A policeman said S.M. was arrested in October.
The primary ruling remains subject to appeal within 15 days.
