The photo has been used for illustrative purposes.

Hamza M Sengendo, Staff Reporter

Three men behind a spate of livestock robberies must serve their punishment for snatching nine sheep from a Dubai farm, the Appeals Court ruled on Sunday.

The Asian defendants – a labourer, 27, his colleague, 34, and a driver, 25 – stole the sheep from a farm in Tay area at night on Oct.11, 2018 and sold some of them at a livestock market in Sharjah, investigations revealed. The labourer used metal scissors to cut a hole in the farm’s fence. He snatched the nine sheep worth around Dhs22,500. Both the colleague and driver helped cram the sheep inside a getaway SUV and they sped off.

During Dubai Criminal Court questioning, the defendants rebuffed the charges. The driver who reportedly drove the getaway SUV presented a defence memo. Prosecutors demanded they be handed a tough penalty.  The court sentenced them to six months behind bars to be followed by deportation. Each one lodged a defence plea at the Dubai Appeals Court seeking to challenge the ruling. However, the court rejected their pleas.

An Emirati warrant officer revealed the sheep owner – an Arab man – contacted police complaining that his sheep were missing and that he had come across footprints and tyre tracks near a hole cut in the fence. Police were investigating the robbery when the operations room received a complaint from another victim about the theft of ten sheep from a farm in Al Aweer. Investigators found them hidden inside a farm in the area.

Suspicion hovered around the trio. As for the robbery in question, the labourer said he snatched sheep and the colleague and driver packed them in the vehicle. They kept them inside the farm where the colleague worked.

The colleague said they took them to the market the next day and sold them at Dhs3,300. The driver said they sold five sheep at Dhs1,750 and sold the rest to people visiting the colleague’s workplace at Dhs350 each.

An Omani corporal said the labourer confessed before him and gave a detailed account of the robbery. “He told me they first kept the stolen sheep with the colleague for some time. He got a Dhs500 share of the proceeds.”

An Emirati lieutenant said, “The colleague confessed and explained how the labourer cut a hole in the fence and they made their way in. He acknowledged having pocketed a share of the proceeds.” Another lieutenant said, “The driver confessed to his role in transporting the nine sheep that he and the colleague sold at the market and to people frequenting the colleague’s workplace.”