Indian Cleaner steals 86 Watches worth over $2m in Dubai

An Indian cleaner was arrested and produced before a court for allegedly stealing 86 watches worth over $2 million from a shop in Dubai.

The Dubai Court of First Instance heard the allegations on February 19, 2020.

It is alleged that the 26-year-old man stole the expensive watches from the jewellery shop in the Gold Souq, where he worked.

The unnamed suspect allegedly stole the watches by throwing them in the bin and later collecting them when he took out the rubbish.

The alleged theft came to light in December 2019 when another salesman found a Dh 30,000 ($8,100) watch inside a box in the bin.

He handed it to the shop owner who initially thought someone had dropped the watch by accident.

The business owner told the court: “I own shops that sell watches and jewellery in the Gold Souq.

“On December 25 last year, I was in one of my shops when an Indian salesman brought to my attention that a watch, worth Dh 30,000, was found in the trash bin.

“I took the matter lightly, thinking it must have fallen accidentally there. However, that caught the attention of an employee who went to my partner’s shop and alerted him.”

The shop owner and his business partner then checked the CCTV footage which showed the cleaner putting the watch into a box and putting it in the bin.

The cleaner admitted to stealing the watch but denied stealing more watches.

The owner explained: “When we confronted the cleaner, he confessed he was about to steal the watch as he needed money.

“He denied, though, having stolen any items from the other shops. But we did not believe him.

“We contacted his brother who was in India and who works as a manager at our shops. I told him to come back to Dubai.”

When the owner and his partner questioned the cleaner in front of his brother, he admitted stealing two watches, worth Dh 250,000 ($68,000) and Dh 270,000 (£73,500).

It was alleged that the Indian cleaner sold both watches to a Pakistani man for Dh 10,000 (£2,700) each.

According to the jewellery shop owner, he claimed:

“He (the defendant) used to meet the Pakistani man in a cafe and sell watches at a cheap price.

“He told me that the Pakistani man knew it was stolen and he used the defendant to obtain watches at cheap prices.”

The businessman alleged that the cleaner was not yet paid for the second watch.

It is claimed that the cleaner stole 86 watches worth $2 million.

It was reported that two Pakistani nationals were involved in the buying and selling of watches. Police are looking to question the men, however, they remain on the run.

A verdict on the case is expected on February 26, 2020.