Dubai: Three men have been accused of breaking into a hypermarket at night and stealing Dh406,000 in cash and phone recharge cards, heard a court on Wednesday.

An Indian business partner, who owns the hypermarket, discovered that some persons had trespassed into his warehouses in Al Ghusais and stolen money and recharge cards in November.

He had locked the doors of the place before going home the previous evening, according to records, and discovered that the warehouse had been broken into and robbed.

Upon inspecting the surveillance camera installed around the warehouse, the footage showed three men were involved in the break-in and theft.

Preliminary police investigation led to the arrest of two Pakistani men while the third suspect remains at large.

Prosecutors accused the Pakistani trio, aged between 30 and 32, of wrecking the warehouse’s three locks and two safes and stealing around Dh315,000 in cash and Dh91,000 in prepaid phone recharge cards.

According to the accusation sheet, prosecutors said one or more unidentified suspects collaborated in the heist. The suspects used a crowbar, a screwdriver and a hammer to break their way into the warehouse.

Police are still searching for the third suspect, who has been identified.

The two detained suspects pleaded not guilty when they appeared before the Dubai Court of First Instance on Wednesday.

The Indian told prosecutors that the CCTV camera footage showed the heist took place at 2.30am.

“The surveillance footage showed that three men had been involved in the robbery. The culprits came in a golden car which was parked in front of the warehouse. One of them stayed in the car and the other two forced their way into the warehouse … they broke open the doors and locks and also destroyed the safes. They stole cash and recharge cards and escaped,” he testified to prosecutors.

A police sergeant told prosecutors that investigation revealed that four or more suspects had been involved in the robbery.

“During questioning, the apprehended suspects said they drove to Sharjah directly after the robbery and split the money among them,” the sergeant testified to prosecutors

A ruling will be heard on May 13.