Manama: A salesman who stole more than 250 Rolex watches from a shop in Doha’s Hamad International Airport and left the country was arrested as soon as he landed in Cairo.
The salesman, who had worked at the Rolex shop for seven years, thought he had pulled the perfect theft by taking the watches and leaving the country early before 7am.
However, the theft was discovered soon after the EgyptAir plane left and the security authorities quickly checked the surveillance cameras and were able to discover the thief and monitor all his movements throughout the airport until he boarded the plane, Qatari daily Al Sharq reported.
The security authorities coordinated with their counterparts at Cairo airport and with EgyptAir to arrest the thief upon his arrival in the Egyptian capital with the watches worth millions of Qatari Riyals, the daily said.
Online users said they were pleased the thief was arrested, accusing him of betraying the trust of his employers.
Several users said the theft should serve as a reminder about the importance of the sponsorship system, explaining that foreigners working in the Gulf should not always be given their passports in case they commit a felony or a violation or steal something and then board the plane out of the country.
However, other users rejected the argument, pointing that it was a specific case that should not be generalized to all expatriates working in the region.
According to figures released by the Gulf Labour Markets and Immigration, the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries – Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates- have a total population of more than 50 million in 2014.
Gulf nationals made up 51.9 per cent and foreigners 48.1 per cent.
Only Saudi Arabia and Oman have more nationals than foreigners with figures of 67 per cent and 56 per cent respectively.
