Four get a year's jail term for stealing abandoned cars

Dubai: Four gang members were jailed for a year after a court convicted them of stealing cars abandoned in the streets for months by their owners.

The Dubai Court of First Instance convicted the four Sri Lankan defendants for forming a gang that was skilled in stealing cars that were left in the streets by their owners for long periods.

The court acquitted two Syrian suspects of aiding and abetting the Sri Lankans. Prosecutors said the six men searched for abandoned cars that had Dubai Municipality warning signs on their windshields.

Deportation

Then they washed the cars before breaking the locks open and cut new keys to start the engines and steal them.

The defendants pleaded not guilty. According to the primary judgement, the men will be deported following the completion of their jail terms.

According to the charge sheet, prosecutors said the suspects, aged between 23 and 46, stole a Toyota Previa car from the Al Qusais area.

Prosecutors said the Sri Lankan defendants washed the car and waited for the Syrian suspects to break the lock and cut a new key. The key was given to one of the Sri Lankan suspects, 35-year-old N.H., who started the car and drove it away.

According to records, one of the Syrian suspects collected Dh800 for copying new keys.