Photo has been used for illustrative purpose.

Mohammed Yaseen, Staff Reporter

The Dubai Criminal Court sentenced three Africans and an Asian to three years in prison each and fined them jointly Dhs207,000 for stealing Dhs200,000 from a safe of company, in addition to three mobile phones belonging to the company’s owner and others, who were assaulted and threatened under knifepoint.

The convicts would be deported after serving the penalties, the Court ruled.

In March, the police received a report about the robbery. The criminals were wearing hats and facemasks and holding bladed weapons.

An owner of a company located in the Naif area, Dubai, stated that he was surprised by one person accompanied by others ordering him to pay them Dhs23,000 under knifepoint, but he refused, so one of them hit him on the head with the back of a knife, so he succumbed and gave him the amount he requested.

The rest of the gang continued to assault other persons who were in the company during the crime, the company’s owner told the prosecution.

“One of the gangsters asked for the safe’s key after they failed to break it, and I had to give it to him, as he was threatening to kill everyone in the place,” he added. One of the victims stated that the criminals had beaten him, took his mobile phone and a sum of money that was in his possession, and threatened to kill him.

They also continued to beat another person, who was also there, before they fled the scene with their mobile phones and the money, he added.

A police officer, who led the investigation team, testified that through the investigation, the security team was able to identify one of the suspects (Asian), who committed the crime in complicity with a group of Africans with whom he had no relationship before the date of the incident. The first suspect admitted in the interrogation that a person serving jail term contacted him and asked him to contact an African person, who asked him to share the company’s location via “WhatsApp” and to meet them there.

The suspects assaulted those in the company and seized sums of money, he added, noting that he had given him Dhs5,000 in return for his collusion in the crime.

The first suspect then informed the police about the identity of the rest of the gangsters, where were arrested and interrogated.

The suspects confessed to the crime, so they were all referred to the Court, where the aforementioned terms were issued against them.