Three hapless thieves spent hours trying to break warehouse locks with a pair of scissors in a bid to steal Dh2 million worth of children’s clothes before being scared off by a passing car, a Dubai court heard on Monday.
The Pakistani defendants, aged 21, 25 and 33, tried to force open the locks at the warehouse in Ras Al Khor for three hours, managing to break just one of the locks, before being scared off in the early hours of August 4.
The warehouse owner arrived in the morning to find one lock broken so she called police. Police managed to identify one defendant through CCTV footage and circulated his picture to all police stations.
On August 7, the man was apprehended and, according to police, he admitted taking part in the attempted robbery and said that the other two men, one of whom had worked in the warehouse, had planned the botched raid.
“He tipped [police off about] the other two and we arrested them the same day,” said an Emirati police officer, 29.
He added that each defendant was asked separately about the incident and they all gave the same details.
“They said they planned it the same day and took a taxi to the warehouse but, after three hours of trying to break the locks, they were scared off by a passing car,” said the officer.
The men told police they disposed of the scissors near the warehouse but officers couldn't find them.
The Chinese warehouse owner told prosecutors that she locked the place up at 2.30am and returned later that morning to find one of the locks broken. “I called police then checked the cameras. I saw three men, two of them masked, breaking the lock,” she said.
At Dubai Criminal Court on Monday morning, the trio denied a charge of attempted armed robbery.
A verdict is expected on October 16.
