Photo has been used for illustrative purposes.

Mohammed Yaseen, Staff Reporter

The Dubai Court of Appeal ruled that the jail term of a gang of 7 Asians be increased from 3 to 5 years to be followed by deportation after being convicted of stealing Dhs289,000. The court also ruled that they be fined Dhs290,000. The case dated back to last March when the victim filed a complaint that he had been robbed and assaulted by 7 Asians.

According to his testimony, two of the gang pushed him into the company’s headquarters and the rest followed them. One of the perpetrators put his hand on his mouth to prevent him from screaming and threatened him with a knife, he said.

The victim stated that he obeyed the orders of the gang for fear of harming him but they later tied him up and stole his wallet, which contained sums of foreign currency. They also found the key of a safe, opened it and stole Dhs289,000 and IR3,000 from it before they fled.

A policeman testified that based on a report on forced theft in the Naif area, a team of investigators was formed and went to the place. The team managed arrested the gang members with some of the stolen money and mobile phones in their possession. They admitted that the rest of the stolen amount had been remitted to their home country.

The Court of First Instance ruled that all the gang members be jailed and fined the stolen amount jointly. They appealed against the ruling and the Court of Appeal upheld the ruling and sentenced them to 5 years in jail.

GANG OF BURGLARS JAILED AND FINED: The Dubai Court of Appeal upheld a ruling by the Court of First Instance, imprisoning an African gang for 6 months and fining them Dhs90,000 to be followed by deportation for impersonating policemen and robbing an Asian on a public road.

Last July, the police received a report from an Asian man indicating that he had been robbed by a number of persons on a public road minutes after withdrawing the amount from a bank. 

Through the investigation, the security teams were able to identify and locate one of the convicts and he was arrested. 

On interrogating the convict, he confessed to committing the robbery in complicity with other compatriots. He admitted that they were monitoring the victim near a bank. They followed him after he left the bank, then stopped him and claimed that they were police officers, the convict added.

They assaulted the victim and stole Dhs90,000 from him, the convict told the police. 

The convict stated in the investigations of the Public Prosecution that his share of that operation was Dhs12,000, so the Court of First Instance sentenced him to 6 months and fined him as well to be followed by deportation.