Men who tried to steal boxes of gold from Central Bank are jailed

The men presented forged documents to an employee at the Central Bank who called police

Two men who forged documents to steal five boxes of gold from the Central Bank will spend three years in prison.

The Iranian men, and a third accomplice was cleared of all charges, were arrested after presenting the documents at the Central Bank.

The bank employee told them he would look for the boxes but reported them to police instead.

During police questioning, the two men said a fourth person gave them the phoney documents in their home country and told them to travel to the UAE to claim the boxes because he wanted to invest in projects in the emirates.

The third defendant told police he had been living in the UAE for fourteen years and had never committed a crime. He said he only accompanied the two defendants to translate from Persian to Arabic, and the men confirmed his story.

The two men were sentenced to two years in prison at Abu Dhabi Criminal Court on Wednesday to be followed by deportation.