Photo has been used for illustrative purpose.

Mohammed Yaseen, Staff Reporter

The Dubai Court of Appeal upheld a verdict issued by the Court of First Instance sentencing a gang of five Africans to two years in jail to be followed by deportation and fining them Dhs300,000 on charges of stealing an amount equal to the fine from an Asian trader once he left a bank.

The case dated back to February 2020 when the victim filed a complaint in which he stated that he had been assaulted and robbed by coercion by a group of Africans.

The victim stated in the investigations that five people took him by surprise on his way to his vehicle after he encashed a Dhs300,000 cheque from a bank branch in Al Quoz Industrial Area.

The victim added that he tried to resist them but one of them threatened him with a knife, wounded him and tore his shirt before they took his money and fled away on a vehicle.

A policeman stated in the investigations that a criminal investigation team managed to identify the suspects and to arrest them in a neighbouring emirate with Dhs50,000 in their possession.

The suspects confessed to the charges levelled against them and were referred to the Dubai Public Prosecution.

Separately, the Dubai Criminal Court sent two Asian maintenance workers to jail and fined them $40,000, after they were charged with stealing the same amount from a villa belonging to a compatriot businessman.

The court also ordered the deportation of the two suspects after serving the jail term.

Details date back to October 2021 when a businessman discovered that $40,000 were stolen from his villa.

In interrogations, he said when he returned home with his wife, his daughter told him two Asians entered the villa, where one of them tied up her hands and muzzled her while the second went up, and fled after they stole things.

The victim added that he reported what happened to the police that checked the surveillance cameras to find out that one of the suspects had come to the villa at early time on the day of the stealth for some maintenance works and decoration.