Jail term for Dubai TV thief slashed to 2 months

The Indian was found guilty of stealing the TV sets, worth almost Dh1 million, but he has had his sentence reduced from two years in prison.

DUBAI // A two-year sentence handed down to a salesman for stealing 654 televisions worth Dh878,000 was reduced by the Appeal Court to two months to be followed by deportation. Indian G B, 46, stole the televisions from a company’s warehouse on February 7 with the help of others who remain at large.

M N, 39, who is a partner in the company that owns the TVs, said he was on his way home when he passed by the company’s warehouse in Al Qusais and noticed that the lights were on. “I called the store supervisor but he told me he turned off the lights, closed the warehouse and left. So I checked and found the place empty,” he said.

Police officer M A, 23, said the defendant admitted to stealing from the warehouse, with the help of five other men.

The gang loaded the electronics into three pick-up trucks. G B then took his commission and the stolen TVs were taken to another warehouse from where some of them were sold on for lower prices.

“We found 404 TV sets and a vacuum cleaner in G B’s warehouse and we also found two Samsung TV sets and another Sony at the defendant’s residence in Al Rashidiya,” said the policeman.

Police returned 405 items to the owner that were worth almost Dh500,000.

The Indian defendant denied robbery in both the criminal and appeal courts but was jailed for two years, followed by deportation. This sentence was reduced to two months at the appeal court but his deportation order was upheld.