Three expats get jail from stealing QAR1.2m from office

A criminal court has sentenced three Asians to a year in jail for breaking into an office in broad daylight and stealing more than QR1.2m in cash, The Peninsula reported.

The court said in its ruling that the trio be deported once they have served the prison sentence.

It seems the threesome arrived here on a visit and had planned the burglary in advance. The brain behind the crime had travelled here alone before the burglary and left.

He landed here again, after the crime was committed, and to his and his accomplices' bad luck, was apprehended by the law-enforcement agencies.

In fact, four people were involved in the burglary. Three of them had broken into the office of a travel agency during an afternoon. One of them was acquitted by the court due to lack of evidence.

The fourth man was caught when the police raided the hotel where the trio was staying, and it dawned on them that he had planned the crime.

The manager of the travel agency told the court that he had left the office at noon and it was closed for lunch. However, when he returned later in the afternoon he found the place had been broken into.

The cash was kept in a safety vault, which had been broken open, local Arabic daily Al Raya reported yesterday.

The burglars were caught thanks to footage from a CCTV camera installed in the office of the travel agency. The police zeroed in on the culprits after they got access to the CCTV footage.

QR25,000 and $5,000 in cash were recovered from one of the suspects. When their hotel room was searched by the police, it was found that the burglars had concealed QR380,000, $60,000 and €55,000 in the cushion of a chair. [The Peninsula]