Ethiopian gang jailed for Dh4 million robbery in Dubai

Dubai: An Ethiopian gang in Dubai has been sentenced to five years in jail for robbing Dh4 million at knife-point from an employee of a Dubai commercial company. The court additionally issued a Dh4 million fine on the defendants and ordered them to be deported after serving their jail sentence.

The Dubai Court of First Instance heard that in October 2020, two employees at the company were instructed to encash a Dh4 million cheque and bring the money to the company’s office in the Al Muraqqabat area of Dubai. As the two employees were stepping out of their vehicle with the cash, the Ethiopian defendants snatched the cash, assaulted the two employees, threatened them with a knife before fleeing from the area.

A 29-year-old Indian employee testified that he had encashed the cheque from a local bank on Shaikh Zayed Road and put the cash in a black bag before driving back to their company premises, along with one of his workmates. “Three men attacked us. One raised a knife at me, while a second person snatched the bag. I tried to resist them, but they escaped,” said the Indian employee on record.

Dubai Police launched an intensive investigation and arrested a group of five Ethiopian men.

“They admitted to renting a car to monitor bank customers. They saw the victims carrying the bag of money and followed them to the Al Muraqqabat area before attacking them,” said a 27-year-old Emirati policeman on record.

The defendants divided part of the money between themselves and gave Dh200,000 to one of their Ethiopian friends for it to be wired to his home country.

Dubai Police also arrested three other Ethiopian defendants for possessing the money.

Dubai Public Prosecution had charged the five defendants with robbery, while the other three defendants were charged with possessing stolen money.