Three men cleared of stealing Dh4,000 from Dubai charity boxes

The three had been accused of stealing Dh4,000 from a pastry shop but were acquitted at Dubai Criminal Court.

Salam Al Amir

Dubai // Three men accused of stealing Dh4,000 from charity boxes in a pastry shop after breaking into the place have been acquitted.

A S, 28, from Pakistan and his Afghani accomplices A A, 34 and B J, 2 5 were found not guilty of armed robbery charges at Dubai Criminal Court on Thursday.

The defendants broke into the Al Baba pastry in Bur Saeed after the shop closed at about 11pm on March 10, 2009.

The next morning W H, 29, a Lebanese saleswoman said she noticed the backdoor unlocked when she arrived at 7.30am. “I then noticed four charity boxes missing so I called police,” said the woman.

It was not clear when the arrest of the defendants happened and why the case took four years to be referred to court.