DUBAI // Four women and man got a three-month suspended prison term yesterday for a string of robberies of high-end fashion stores in Dubai.
The Dubai Court of Misdemeanours also ordered them deported for the eight robberies at Dubai Mall, Mall of the Emirates and the Outlet Mall.
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In a single robbery, the Saudi sisters LN, 24, and MN, 19; their female cousin AM, 30; their male cousin AA, 21; and their neighbour, NF, 26, took Dh133,360 in clothes, bags, and perfumes worth Dh133,360 from a Paris Gallery shop at the Outlet Mall.
The women later told police the shopkeepers did not notice the thefts, which they carried out using plastic bags they had on them to hide the stolen things. In many cases, they simply stuffed the items under their abayas.
AA told prosecutors he did not realise the women were stealing until he saw the number of bags and the expensive goods they had. He said he knew they could not afford to pay for all the items.
He said he remained silent and carried their bags to the car, then took them to a residence in Al Rafaa.
A sales supervisor at Paris Gallery testified that they only discovered the thefts after the women were caught shoplifting in another Paris Gallery in the Mall of the Emirates.
LN confessed that she was in the country two months ago and stole several items from a shop in the Mall of the Emirates. Investigations showed the women had stolen from two other shops.
amustafa@thenational.ae