Chef admits stealing 100 frozen chickens

Dubai // A chef and a chicken salesman were accused in the Dubai Criminal Court of First Instance yesterday of stealing 100 frozen chickens. The chef, SV, 28, who is employed by Al Naboodah Contracting, pleaded guilty to the charge while MN, the chicken salesman, denied the charge. According to prosecution documents, the men were arrested in July after a labour camp supervisor told police they were acting suspiciously.

The 54-year-old supervisor, Kamishwar Prasad, told prosecutors he was informed by the night guard at the Jebel Ali labour camp that SV and MN had taken 10 cartons of chicken. Labourers saw the chef leave the chickens in his lorry when he was unpacking stocks for his kitchen at the labour camp, he said. When asked about this, the chef said the Talegaon Indian restaurant at the same labour camp did not have enough chickens and that was where they were going, the documents show.

The supervisor told prosecutors that labourers then saw him unloading the birds not at the restaurant, but near the camp gate. MN was alleged to have packed the chickens into a car and left the camp with them. The supervisor told prosecutors that he then went to the Talegaon restaurant and asked if any chickens had been delivered. They chef said none had, and that they had plenty. Police said SV confessed when apprehended, saying he and the salesman were stealing things and selling them.

The chef told investigators that he even received a Dh200 (US$54) advance from the salesman for the chickens, which were valued at Dh1,000, according to the documents. The presiding judge, El Saeed Bargouth, adjourned the hearing to later this month to hear more testimony. [e-mail]