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One year jail for pick-pocketing

DUBAI - The alertness of an exchange shop employee led to the arrest of a pickpocket and the return of 80 stolen Iranian traveller's cheques worth 40 million Tuman (Dh175,000) to their rightful owner.

The accused, 32-year-old Ethiopian national, S.M.A., was yesterday sentenced to one-year imprisonment by the Dubai Court of First Instance, which also ordered the convict to be deported from the country after serving his prison term.

The theft occurred on September 18 when the victim, G.A.K., a 45-year-old Iranian national, purchased traveller's cheques from a bank and on return to his hotel found the cheques missing. The victim immediately reported the matter to the police and provided them with the serial numbers of the stolen cheques. The stolen cheques' serial numbers were circulated to all money changers in the country.

On September 20, an employee at a money changer's shop in Dubai received a client, a tall African man, who was accompanied by another man. The African gave the employee eight Iranian traveller's cheques to exchange for UAE currency. The employee noticed the serial numbers on the cheques matched with those of the stolen cheques and he asked the customer to wait while his request was processed. The employee went out and alerted a police patrol in the area. The defendant noticed something was wrong and he tried to escape.

A chase ensued and the defendant was arrested by police, but the second man managed to escape.

• UAE