Elderly women hid shop's gold chains in handbag, court told

Pair in their 60s 'distracted shop assistant and took items worth Dh26,000' say prosecutors.

DUBAI // An elderly woman was caught on camera distracting the shopkeeper at a gold shop while her sexagenarian accomplice hid jewellery worth Dh26,000 in her handbag, a court heard yesterday.

The Court of Misdemeanours charged two women, both in their 60s, with theft after video footage showed two people taking items from Atlas Jewellery on Al Ghubaiba Road.

The shopkeeper discovered the valuables missing the next morning and reported the theft to police.

Prosecutors said that in October 2010, the Sudanese suspects, GK and ZA, stepped out of a rented car, walked into the shop and told the assistant they were interested in buying a gold chain. While one of the women kept him talking the other stole five golden chains, court records stated.

The women are also accused of taking seven bracelets and a diamond from Paris Jewellers at Dubai Mall in a previous incident.

Police watched the surveillance recordings, identified the suspects and arrested ZA at Naif Gold Souq. GK remains at large. Officers suspected ZA was trying to sell the items.

ZA denied all charges and said she did not know whether the other woman stole anything. She said they bought a necklace for Dh200.

Police searched Z A's home in Naif but did not find any valuables. Officers said they later found a plastic bag that contained gold items stashed under the driver's seat of the police car that took her to the police station.

A verdict is expected on January 17.