Seven Pakistanis were jailed for three years on Wednesday for stealing Dh14 million (Rs470 million) from an armoured truck in Dubai, Gulf News reported.
Among those jailed were three drivers who worked for the cash transfer company, while the rest provided logistic support to it.
“Crime scene investigators and fingerprint experts examined the armoured truck,” the report quoted a police lieutenant as saying.
“The truck’s CCTV footages clearly showed how the 37-year-old driver had disconnected the cameras and by doing so he became the primary suspect,” he added.
On-site investigations, the lieutenant continued, revealed the involvement of two more persons … also four others were involved in aiding and abetting the trio.”
The company’s security in charge was alerted by two Nepalese guards that contact with the Pakistani driver had been lost. The 37-year-old driver had dropped them outside the premises of Al Ghurair Centre.
The manager and his staff were finally able to locate the truck parked outside a nearby alley with its engine turned on.
Later, an investigation into CCTV cameras showed the driver and two other Pakistanis, aged 30 and 39, carrying four bags of money to car and driving away from the scene.
When police combed the surrounding areas, they found the car abandoned in a poorly lit road. The three drivers were seen jumping inside a taxi to rush away from the scene.
Police were able through investigations and tip-offs to locate the trio in Sharjah. The rest of the defendants, aged between 33 and 48, were also sent behind bars for abetting the theft.
All of the seven convicts will be departed from the country once they serve their imprisonment. The 39-year-old, as well as those accused of abetting the stealing, denied the charge.
The 37-year-old driver, however, admitted to prosecutors the theft and the fact that the other four accomplices were supposed to assist them in transferring the money to Pakistan.
The initial verdict is subject to appeal in a court of law.