Teacher steals Dubai student's iPad, sells online

A man who unknowingly bought a stolen iPad, contacted the previous owner via a telephone number he found on Skype to know the password of another iPad that he had bought from the same seller, the Dubai Criminal Court heard.

In June, HN, 30, an Indian salesman, logged into a local site to buy an iPad for his children.

“I found an ad about two iPads for sale, so I sent an SMS asking if they were still available. I got a positive reply and the seller mentioned that they would be available after one week as the children were still using them. I agreed with the seller as I was interested in buying the two sets for Dh1,200. We decided to meet near a Metro station on Sheikh Zayed Road.

On the day of the transaction, a woman arrived and handed me over the two tablets and I gave her Dh1,200,” HN told investigators.

One of the iPads did not have a password so the buyer started working on it. However, the second set needed a password.

“The first iPad had the Skype app and I found a telephone number of the owner on that iPad. Assuming that both the iPads that I had bought belonged to the same owner, I dialled the number and when a boy answered my call, I asked him to give me the password of the second set of iPad. On the same day, I received a call from police and was informed that both the iPads that I had bought were stolen,” he said.

The buyer told the police how he had gotten around to buying the two iPads from a woman.

The father of the student who had answered the buyer’s call confirmed that he had received a call from HN who informed him that he needed the password of the other set, which he had bought from a woman.

The buyer told the police that he did not know that the two sets were stolen. The woman who had sold them to him had told him that the two sets belonged to her children but did not show him any bill.

Police arrested, LO, 29, a Jordanian computer teacher who taught in the complainant’s son's school. The teacher admitted stealing the iPad from the student.

After finding the iPad in the classroom, the teacher had contacted the mother of the student and asked her for the password of the lost iPad.

LO said that she had stolen the iPad as she needed money.

LO is being prosecuted for the theft of one iPad and the records did not mention anything about the second set that she had sold to the man.

The court will reconvene on January 8.

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