DUBAI // A telecoms company employee was accused on Wednesday of unearthing copper cables worth Dh5,000 at a communications tower and stealing them with the help of two accomplices.
Prosecutors said that Pakistani M A, 30, used his knowledge of cable locations and instructed compatriots M K, 40, and 20-year-old M N to unearth and cut the wires in June last year before selling them in Sharjah.
Police officer A G, 33, said that the trio were apprehended for theft.
“The men were in custody and were brought in for questioning,” the officer said. “M K said that M A was the mastermind of the operations.”
According to records, the telecoms employee phoned his countrymen to tell them about the location of cables and then they would steal them together.
“M A used to stay with us, dressed in his work uniform, so we were at ease and not worried that police would apprehend us,” M K told police.
Police records state that they admitted carrying out eight similar robberies.
G M, 38, another telecoms company employee, said he discovered that two cables 24 metres in length each had been stolen from two transmission enhancement stations.
“We were alerted to a service disruption and we found out that two cables worth Dh4,728 were unearthed, cut and stolen,” he said.
M N told prosecutors that he received Dh250 for his part in the robbery.
At Dubai Criminal Court, each of the defendants denied a theft charge.
The next hearing is on July 10.
tzriqat@thenational.ae
