DUBAI: An Indian man has been sentenced to one year in prison after he was found guilty of stealing 86 expensive watches worth over USD 2 million from three shops in Dubai''s famous Gold Souq, according to a media report.
The 26-year-old man, who worked as a cleaner, was sentenced by the Dubai Court of First Instance on Wednesday, the Gulf News reported.
He was accused of stealing as many as 86 expensive watches worth over 8.3 million dirhams (USD 2.2 million) and the valuables from a watch and jewellery shop where he worked, the report said.
Two Pakistani men (cousins), aged 44 and 25, both fugitives, who were accused in absentia for possession of the stolen watches, received one year imprisonment each, it said.
The court ordered deportation of the Indian national after he completes his jail term.
A complaint about the stolen watches was filed on January 6 at the Naif police station.
"In December, I was in one of my shops when an Indian salesman brought to my attention that a watch, worth Dh30,000, was found in its box in the trash bin," the owner said in the complaint.
According to the owner, they then checked the shop''s CCTV cameras which captured the cleaner taking the watch, putting it in a box and dropping it in the trash bin so he could smuggle it outside the shop later.
When the owner asked the defendant about the theft, he confessed he had stolen two watches worth 250,000 and 270,000 dirhams, the report said.
He sold each of them to a Pakistani man in cheap prices, it said.
During the public prosecution investigation, the defendant admitted he stole the watches and then sold them to the two accomplices who knew they were stolen.