Cleaner jailed for stealing 86 watches worth Dh8.4m in Dubai

Dubai: A Dubai cleaner was sentenced to one year in jail for stealing 86 expensive watches worth Dh8.4 million from three shops at the Gold Market, the Dubai Court of First Instance heard on Wednesday.

According to official records, the 26-year-old Indian defendant continued to steal watches by throwing them in the bin and later collecting them when he took the garbage outside the shops.

On December 2019, a salesman in a shop came across a Dh30,000 watch inside a white box in the garbage bin. He delivered it to the 51-year-old Iraqi owner who thought someone had accidently thrown it away.

“First, I didn’t take the matter seriously but another salesman spoke to my partner who checked surveillance cameras. Footage showed the defendant stealing the watch, putting it in the box and throwing it in the bin,” the Iraqi businessman said in records.

The defendant admitted the theft to the Iraqi man but he denied stealing more watches.

“He claimed that he needed money and he only stole this watch. We doubt about his story and decided to make inventory.”

The defendant confessed to them that he stole two watches in the past worth Dh520,000 and sold them to a Pakistani man for Dh20,000,

“He used to meet the Pakistani man in a cafe and sold the watches in cheap price. He told me that the Pakistani man know it was stolen and he used him to sell it in cheap prices,” the Iraqi man added.

According to Dubai Public prosecution, the defendant stole 86 watches worth Dh8.4 million. The court also ordered that the defendant be deported after serving his jail term.

Two Pakistani defendants, aged 25 and 44, who are still at large, were charged with possessing stolen items. They were both sentenced to one year in jail too.