Dubai: A sports coach and a typist have been accused of stealing Dh2,400 worth of items from a garment store at a mall and hiding them inside a guitar.
The Moroccan sports coach, Y.M., and his countryman typist, Z.M., were said to have walked into the store as customers and used a pair of scissors and a nail-cutter to remove tags off the items that they stole and hid them inside the guitar in August.
Security guards spotted the two men and stopped them when they tried to walk out of the store with the stolen items. Prosecutors accused Y.M. and Z.M. of attempted theft.
The coach pleaded not guilty when he appeared before the Dubai Court of First Instance on Thursday. His countryman typist pleaded guilty.
Records said Y.M. and Z.M. attempted to rob 12 items of clothing and sports shoes and four other outfits.
“I did not steal anything,” Y.M. argued before presiding judge Urfan Omar. He also handed the court a written defence.
“I am guilty,” Z.M. told the presiding judge.
A Nigerian security guard testified to prosecutors that he stopped the duo while leaving the store since he had been watching them after he suspected them. “I stopped them and told them that I had to search them. I found nearly 16 items hidden inside the guitar box … and the tags had been removed so that the alarm does not go off. Y.M. had kept inside the guitar box a pair of scissors and a nail-cutter that the suspects had used to remove the tags and bar codes. I informed my supervisor who reported the matter to the police,” he told prosecutors.
The duo were quoted as admitting to prosecutors that they tried to take the items without paying for them.
A ruling will be heard later this month.
