Dubai security guard jailed for stealing from tenants on holiday

Security guard who stole valuables worth more than half a million dirhams from two apartments he guarded is sentenced to six months in jail.

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DUBAI // A security guard who stole valuables worth more than half a million dirhams from two apartments he was supposed to be guarding has been sentenced to a year in jail.

ZH, 27, from Bangladesh, waited until the tenants were on holiday before breaking in through the apartments' windows and stealing jewellery and other valuables. So careful was he that the tenants did not realise they had been burgled until some time after returning.

PD, 33, a housewife, returned from a trip to her home country India on July 25 last month, but did not realise she had been burgled until she headed out for dinner with her husband the following day and went to put on her jewellery.

"When I opened the safe I noticed a lot of my jewellery was missing," said the housewife, who said the stolen items were worth Dh500,000.

Another tenant JL, 33, also from India, returned after a two-week visit home in October last year. He said he didn't realise he had been burgled until November, when he was checking the drawer where his wife kept her jewellery. He said items worth Dh120,000 were missing.

Police arrested the security guard at Dubai International Airport as he tried to flee the country with some of the stolen goods.

Police found 12 golden chains, 11 earrings, 12 rings, and six bracelets in his possession.

The security guard was sentenced to six months in jail for each burglary. The sentences will run consecutively and he will be deported after completing both terms.

salamir@thenational.ae