Dubai: Two women and 14 men appeared in court on Monday accused of forming a gang and stealing valuable consignments of iPhones, iPads and iPods from Dubai Cargo Village.
Prosecutors accused nine of the Filipino defendants, aged 23 to 35, of abusing their duties and stealing tens of consignments from the storage area at the Dubai Cargo Village.
The remaining six Filipino suspects, including two women and four men, were charged with aiding and abetting the other defendants by possessing the stolen items.
One suspect, identified as 29-year-old J.H., pleaded not guilty when he defended himself before the Dubai Court of First Instance on Monday.
Meanwhile the other eight defendants [charged with theft] pleaded guilty and admitted that they stole the consignments, police said.
The six suspects [charged with aiding and abetting a crime] claimed before Presiding Judge Hamad Abdul Latif Abdul Jawad that they did not know that iPhones, iPads and iPods were stolen.
An Emirati cargo operations supervisor testified that the management noticed that too many consignments had gone missing.
"Dnata group launched its own investigation by tightening the security and search measures against its workers. Extra surveillance cameras were also fixed to monitor the workers. One of the footages exposed a worker stealing a consignment and handing it to others to sneak it out of the Cargo Village. The suspects took the consignments out of the gates without presenting ownership papers," the supervisor claimed.
Prosecution records said the suspects were arrested and they confessed during questioning.
An Emirati policeman said the first suspect, R.F., was the first to be arrested. R.F. confessed how they used to steal the consignments and sell the items to people outside the Cargo Village.
A verdict will be heard on January 30.
