Duo arrested for trying to rob Sharjah hypermarket

Mahmoud Muhsen, Ehab Atta, Staff Reporters

The Sharjah Criminal Court on Sunday heard the case of two Africans accused of robbing Lulu Hypermarket in the Emirate using white weapons and sharp objects and assaulting an on-duty employee.

The witness, an accountant in the hypermarket, testified he was taken by surprise by two men with black masks on their faces. One of the defendants asked the witness to hand over all the money he had plus his mobile phone and then without warning him, punched the witness’ face before running away.

The other defendant broke the moneybox with a hammer but a hypermarket employee tried to stop him while the witness tried to help him by removing the mask off the defendant’s face. While trying to free himself, the defendant caused moderate injuries to the witness before the police came and arrested him.

The witness said the first defendant managed to escape before the police arrived in the hypermarket. The police, however, were able to arrest him outside the market. The court ordered a lawyer be assigned to defend the defendants and adjourned the hearing until July 21.

In another case, three Asians working for a government courier company have been involved in the theft of electronic devices worth Dhs110,000 from a parcel they received at an airport in the country.

According to the Dubai Public Prosecution, two months before the discovery of the theft, the first defendant, who was working as a shipping assistant for the plaintiff company stole electronic devices from a storage unit that was placed in a box, while on duty. He was in charge of receiving and checking the inbound shipments before delivering them to customers.

He contacted the third defendant who works as a driver for the company and collects the parcels from the airport. The driver agreed to help the defendant transfer the stolen goods outside the airport and sell them against 50 per cent. While they were placing the stolen goods in a car, the second defendant saw them and asked for two laptops, in return for his silence and not reporting them. The first defendant admitted that he repeated the same act thrice.