Five admit stealing Dh22,000 Etisalat cables

Prosecutors say the men broke into a transmission station, severed the cables and sold them to a second-hand dealer.

DUBAI // Five unemployed men admitted to trespassing and stealing two cables worth nearly Dh22,000 from an Etisalat transmission station on the Dubai Hatta Road, a court heard this morning.

According to the charges, the suspects, all Indians, are accused of using a wire-cutters to break through the fence surrounding the station on May 30 and June 11, 2010, then cutting an electric generator's cables. 

GB, 24; SF, 23; NK, 24; KQ, 32; and MK, 26, are also accused of damaging the station's fence, repairs on which would cost Dh3,750, court records said. 

Prosecutors say they sold the cables to AA, a 22-year-old Pakistani, for Dh 2,300. He denied the charges.

A taxi driver told prosecutors he drove the first five suspects to different destinations in May and June. He added that he took them to the Lehbab area on the Dubai Hatta Road twice.

The Bangladeshi taxi driver SA said the first time he took them to Lehbab, he noticed they were carrying tools, but the second time, he picked them up from Lehbab, and they were carrying two big plastic bags.

Prosecutors said the driver testified that while he took the men to Deira, one of the suspects was on the phone arranging to deliver the bags to someone.

An Etisalat employee told the court the missing cables were about 65 metres long each.

A verdict is expected on February 7. 

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