Picture used for illustrative purpose only.

Mohammed Yaseen, Staff Reporter

The Dubai Criminal Court sentenced a gang of nine Asians to six months in jail to be followed by deportation and fined them Dhs2.25 million for stealing 375 cartons of cigarettes worth the same amount of the fine from a warehouse in Al Qusais area.

The case dates back to June last year when a tobacco trading company manager filed a complaint in which he stated that the warehouse of a company he is working for had been burgled.

The victim stated that in the morning of the incident, he was surprised at the external door of the warehouse being broken and a shipment of 375 cartons of cigarettes worth Dhs2.25 million being stolen from the warehouse.

According to the official documents, a team of detectives gathered inferences from the crime scene and managed to identify a number of the suspects, of whom three were arrested in Al Aweer area while offering cigarettes for retail sale.

On interrogation, the suspects confessed their involvement with others who are still at large in robbing the warehouse and attempting to sell the cigarettes near the Fruit and Vegetable Market in Dubai.

One of the suspects admitted that the stolen materials were stored inside a warehouse in Al Aweer area.

The detectives set a trap and arrested the other suspects with the cartons of cigarettes in their possession.