Dubai: Six visitors have been jailed for two years each for breaking into a villa when the owners were abroad, stealing jewellery and valuables from a safe that they threw in the sea.
The six Chinese visitors, aged between 25 and 43, forced their way into the villa at Umm Suqeim through a window, entered the bedroom, broke the safe and stole gold-plated wristwatches, jewellery and other valuables worth thousands of dirhams in July 2015.
Two of the visitors were apprehended by Dubai Police for being involved in another robbery before they admitted that they had stolen the jewellery and valuables from the Canadian villa owner along with their four countrymen.
Police later discovered that two of the men had thrown the safe at the beachfront near Atlantis, The Palm hotel.
The Dubai Court of First Instance convicted the Chinese men of destroying private properties and stealing valuables.
All defendants pleaded not guilty.
The accused used a crowbar and a screwdriver to break open the safe and stole wristwatches, earrings, necklaces and other valuables.
They also caused Dh3,000 worth of damage to the villa when they forced their way through a window and into the bedroom.
The villa’s Canadian owner said one of her maids called her when she was overseas and informed her that someone had broken into the villa. “She told me that the window was broken and the safe as well … she told me that the thieves had stolen my jewellery and valuables from the safe that she found destroyed. Two weeks later when I returned home, I discovered that the thieves had stolen my and my brother’s valuables. They stole diamond necklaces and gold,” she testified.
A police major said during questioning the defendants admitted that they had thrown away some of the stolen items in the sea.
Parts of the stolen items were recovered from the house of one of the defendants, the car of one of the suspects and from the safe that was dredged from the sea.
