Students attack school security guard

AJMAN // Three pupils have been accused of breaking into their private school canteen at night, beating up two guards and fleeing with Dh700.

The students, aged 17, 18 and 19, all of Arab nationalities, entered the school in Al Nuaimiya on Monday at midnight, police said.

They are accused of breaking the padlock of the cafeteria, cracking open a safe and stealing the money inside.

Two security guards tried to intervene and confronted the students, police said.

"They engaged the two guards in a fierce fight, hitting one with a metal bar on the head," a police spokesman said.

"As the other guard shifted attention to save his colleague, they saw an opening and fled the scene."

The school has three guards, but only two were on duty at the time.

The injured guard was taken to Sheikh Khalifa Hospital.

One guard identified one of the attackers as a pupil at the school, and after police picked him up from his parents' home, he confessed that his accomplices were also students, police said.

In their statement to police, the pupils said they turned to theft because their parents did not give them enough money. They said they chose the canteen because they knew the place and were aware there was money in the safe.

The school directors declined to comment on the incident.

ykakande@thenational.ae