Gang of 17 attacks guards, steals cables

Seventeen Pakistanis allegedly attacked two guards at a construction site armed with steel bars, hammers and saws and stole Dh267,000 worth of electric cables after tying up the hands and legs and covering the eyes of the watchmen, the Dubai Criminal Court heard.

Two other Pakistanis were accused of buying the cables with knowledge of their illegal source.
 
On September 15, 2014, at around 12.30am, two watchmen, ZM, 30, Pakistani and SS, 21, Indian, were guarding an electricity station under construction when a big number of men carrying bars and hammers and saws attacked them.
 
“We ran away and rushed into the guard room. They ran behind us and broke the room’s glass and got into it.They attacked us with steel bars before pulling off my shirt and using it to tie up our hands and legs and covering our eyes. They took our mobile phones and left the room. After five minutes, some of the attackers came and took us out side. For about three hours, we heard them cutting cables using a machine cutter. We also heard them transporting the cables and some other things somewhere. When they left, we managed to release ourselves. We walked to the main road, stopped a passerby and used his mobile phone to report the crime to the police,” said ZM.
 
His colleague SS repeated corroborative testimony.
 
The manager of the company carrying out the project for Dubai Government and the owner of the cables said that the cables were left at the site in Dubai Land despite suspension of the project.
 
Police investigated the complaint and learned about the involvement of AB, 25, worker, in the theft.
 
Police arrested AB who admitted to the crime and lead to the others.
 
AB told the police that WA, 25, worker, and SA, 28, jobless had planned the theft.
 
Police arrested other members of the gang which included a businessman, drivers while the majority were jobless.
 
While police was searching to arrest members of the gang, a theft took place in Al Qusais. Police arrested the group involved in the Al Qusais theft and it was found out that they were part of the gang involved in the previous robbery.
 
The accused admitted to heading to the site using a pickup, a Nissan Infinity, a Camry and a Corolla and attacked the two guards before stealing the cables.
 
When they finished, they moved to Sharjah and sold some of the stolen cables to a scrap dealer for Dh6,000 and the remaining cables were also sold to someone for Dh90,000.
13 out of the 19 accused were present in court and denied the accusation.
 
The court will reconvene in September.

 

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