Two women jailed for stealing jewellery

Two Russian women have been sentenced to six months in prison, followed by deportation, for stealing jewellery worth Dh5,000 from another woman.

The Dubai Court of Misdemeanours also found the two women, both 26 years old, guilty of illegally residing in the emirate.

According to court reports, on July 11, Bakht Joul, the victim, who is from Kyrgyzstan, left her apartment at 8am to buy groceries.

When she returned to the apartment on Freij Al Murar Road, she found someone had broken in and stolen her passport and Dh5,000 worth of jewellery from her bedroom.

Dubai Police then carried out a massive search operation – but the victim contacted the police five days later and informed them that the two thieves were at her apartment with the stolen jewellery and that one of them was her former roommate.

The women had turned themselves in because they were sure they would be caught.

During questioning, one of the women said she used to share the apartment with Joul. Before she moved to another apartment, she had the key to the flat duplicated.

On the day of the theft, she and her new roommate headed to Joul's place in a taxi. One of them went up, entered the flat, and stole the jewellery.

Joul later visited her former flatmate and asked her about the jewellery. The thief confessed and promised to bring back the stolen stuff on condition that she did not turn her in to the police.

Joul, however, reported the theft and got them arrested.