The Dubai Criminal Court has sentenced two men of Arab descent to a month in prison and ordered their deportation for stealing from beachgoers at JBR beach. The defendants targeted visitors who left their belongings behind while they went for a swim, stealing wallets, handbags, and other valuables.
One of their victims was a European man who had left his leather bag on the beach while he and his fiancée went for a swim. The bag contained three phones, a wallet, two passports, credit cards, a car key, and clothes, and the couple could not find it upon their return.
According to the court, the two defendants were friends of the same nationality and both unemployed. They arrived in the UAE together, searched for work, left their respective jobs at the same time, and then committed the crimes.
During the trial, the defendants admitted to using the same methods in several other thefts, and additional stolen items were found in their place of residence when they were arrested. They revealed that they had been walking around the beach when they saw the victim leaving his bag. One of the defendants acted as a lookout while the other seized the bag, and they retrieved two phones, a wallet containing approximately Dh4,850, and an electronic smoking device before discarding the bag in the trash and leaving the scene.
