Men admit to stealing fuel from Etisalat station

Theft charges brought against pair who stole 590 litres of diesel fuel in February.

DUBAI // Two men stole diesel fuel from an Etisalat booster station, bringing operations to a halt, the Dubai Criminal Court heard on Wednesday.

Prosecutors said that Pakistanis MK, 26, and TM, 29, stole 590 litres of fuel in February, breaking the lock on the fuel tank at the station.

The fuel was worth nearly Dh2,000, records said.

The men were charged with theft and intentionally damaging an Etisalat communication service. The loss of fuel disabled the station’s transmissions. They were also charged with causing damaged to the fuel tank after breaking its lock.

The men denied all charges.

JM, 37, an Emirati Etisalat employee, testified that at 10.30pm on the day of the incident officials received a report that transmission at the Sheikh Zayed Road station in the direction of Abu Dhabi had stopped.

“Our technicians moved to the location immediately and saw the lock to the fuel tank broken, then discovered that all the fuel was missing,” he said.

A police report was lodged and police received reports of similar thefts for about four months.

“We tracked down the two defendants and made sure though investigations that they were involved in the thefts, said DA, 30, an Emirati policeman. “We arrested them on June 29 the same year.” Three more police officers testified that both defendants confessed to them willingly that they robbed the Etisalat station.

A verdict is expected on October 15.

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