Warehouse guard killed for 800kg of scrap, court told

Security guard was tied up and gagged before being beaten to death with a rock, prosecutor says, demanding death penalty.

DUBAI // The Bur Dubai chief prosecutor has demanded the death penalty for six Pakistanis accused of killing a warehouse security guard to steal 800kg metal cables to be sold as scrap. The Indian security guard, identified as Nasser Ahmed, was tied up and gagged before being beaten to death with a rock on October 17 at a warehouse belonging to the Green Oasis contracting company, the Dubai Criminal Court of First Instance was told.

The six Pakistanis - a driver, an accommodation supervisor and four labourers - admitted to robbing in Nad al Shiba, court documents show, but they have denied charges of premeditated murder. The six travelled in two cars to the warehouse, where they cut the power from the electric generator, according to the charge sheet. They waited for the guard to come to restore the power, then they attacked him and tied him up and gagged him, it said.

When Mr Ahmed screamed for help, one of the defendants allegedly picked up a rock and beat him over the head. The cables were sold to two other defendants in the case, identified as Pakistani salesmen, who both deny possessing stolen items with prior knowledge. Sami al Shamsi, the chief prosecutor for the Bur Dubai district, asked the court to sentence the defendants to the maximum penalty, which for premeditated murder is death.

He presented evidence showing that the six main defendants did not show up for work the day after the murder. A police captain, Ali al Suwaidi, testified that one of the defendants, identified as AB, the driver, was arrested in Sharjah and confessed he had agreed with SK, 26, the accommodation supervisor, the day before the crime to help him and four others steal the cables. AB waited in his car while the others went into the warehouse, and was told of the killing as he helped to load the cables into the vehicle, the court heard.

An engineer at the company told prosecutors that the stolen cables were worth between Dh40,000 and Dh50,000. The salesmen, SA and AA, said they were contacted by SK and agreed to purchase the cables for Dh16,300 for scrap metal. The trial was adjourned until April 5. @Email:[e-mail]