Gang guilty of stealing Dh1m of goods from Dubai warehouse

DUBAI // Five members of a 19-strong gang were this morning jailed for stealing items worth more than Dh1 million from a warehouse.

The armed robbers broke into the warehouse and assaulted two security guards before stealing electric cables worth more than Dh500,000, phones, copper rolls and a scanner machine worth Dh735,000, prosecutors said at the Criminal Court yesterday.

The guards were beaten with wooden sticks before being tied to chairs and blindfolded while the robbery took place. The gang told them they would be killed if they reported the incident.

The guards remained tied up until colleagues arrived the following morning, freeing them and calling police.

"One of the gang hit me with a wooden bar on the back of my head and he continued hitting me on the back and other parts of my body while another threw several punches at my face," said DR, 36, from Nepal.

"Then they tied my legs and hands, gagged me and blindfolded me."

Prosecutors told the court that 19 men broke into Jazeera Emirates Power Corporation, in Al Quoz, on January 22.

Only five of the men have been arrested and police said they confessed to carrying out the robbery with the help of 14 others. Under interrogation they said they sold the stolen goods to a market in Sharjah for Dh132,000.

However, in court the five denied charges of armed robbery and issuing threats to kill.

They were convicted of all charges and sentenced to three years in prison each to be followed by deportation.