Four in botched bid to steal Dhs 11m emeralds

DUBAI: A man behind a botched attempt to make off with Dhs 10.8m emeralds was on Sunday jailed along with three countrymen who helped keep some of the haul.

The ex-fugitive Asian man was working at a gemstones shop in Al Barsha when he snatched the emeralds along with Dhs59,900 in April. A compatriot engineer and two workers helped keep some of the gemstones.

During interrogations at the Dubai Criminal Court on Sept.10, the engineer and two workers argued that they were keeping the valuables for him unaware that they had been stolen.

During police questioning, they contended that he had asked them to keep his bag.

However, when they learnt of its contents, they become afraid of alerting the police. They waited for him to return.

Records indicated that police recovered the emeralds. The court sentenced the ex-fugitive to three years in jail to be followed by deportation and jailed the trio for one year each to be followed by deportation.

The shop owner’s son –a British manager, 25- narrated that he received a shipment of rough emeralds worth Dhs10.8 million and locked them inside a safe while his father was abroad on April 5.

His father returned the next day. They found out that the emeralds were missing. Surveillance footage showed the convict switching off cameras in the ofice on April 6. On April 7, he appeared on camera leaving the ofice carrying bags.

They discovered he led the country the same day. Al Barsha Police Station personnel apprehended his relatives –the engineer and both workers- with some of the gemstones.

After realising that his robbery bid had fallen lat, the ex-fugitive contacted the shop owner from abroad and asked him to pick the rest of the emeralds from him. He did so.