Indian cleaner jailed in Dubai for stealing watches

Dubai, April 2 A UAE-based Indian cleaner has been jailed in Dubai after he was found guilty of stealing as many as 86 expensive watches, worth over 8.3 million dirhams ($2 million), it was reported.

The Dubai Court of First Instance heard on Wednesday that the 26-year-old Indian defendant continued to steal watches by throwing them in the bin and later collecting them when he took the garbage outside the shops, Gulf News reported.

On December 2019, a salesman in a shop came across a 30,000 dirhams watch inside a white box in the garbage bin. He delivered it to the 51-year-old Iraqi owner who thought someone had accidently thrown it away.

“First, I didn’t take the matter seriously but another salesman spoke to my partner who checked surveillance cameras. Footage showed the defendant stealing the watch, putting it in the box and throwing it in the bin,” Gulf News quoted the Iraqi businessman as saying in records.

The defendant confessed to them that he stole two watches in the past worth 520,000 dirhams and sold them to a Pakistani man for 20,000 dirhams.

According to Dubai Public prosecution, the court also ordered that the defendant be deported after serving his jail term.

Two Pakistani defendants, aged 25 and 44, who are still at large, were charged with possessing stolen items.

They were also sentenced to one year in jail.