2 men try to steal boxes of gold from UAE Central Bank

Abu Dhabi - They had presented documents seeking five boxes of gold they claimed to have deposited.

Two men, who were convicted of trying to steal five gold boxes from the UAE Central Bank using forged documents, have appealed their three-year jail sentences.
Court documents stated that three Iranian men went to the central bank in Abu Dhabi and presented documents to an official there, seeking five boxes of gold they claimed to have deposited.
The bank official told the men to wait for some time so he could verify their documents. "And after checking the documents, he found out that they were forged and the men didn't have any gold deposits in the bank," said prosecutors. "The official then informed security officers, who arrested the trio."
The Abu Dhabi Criminal Court of First Instance had earlier found two of the three men guilty of the charges and sentenced them to three years in jail. The third man said in court that he was just accompanying the duo to help them with translation because they didn't know Arabic or English.
Appealing the verdict, the duo said they had received the documents from "someone in Iran".
They said they were just trying to obtain the gold on his behalf. "We had no idea that the documents were forged," they claimed.
ismail@khaleejtimes.com

• Abu Dhabi