A Doha Criminal Court has sentenced four Asian men to jail and subsequent deportation for robbery and using forged passports to enter the country.
Local Arabic daily Arrayah reported that the four persons came to Qatar using counterfeited European passports in order to easily obtain entry visas.
The court sentenced three of them to 13 years in jail each while the other defendant was awarded an eight-year prison term because he did not play a key role in the theft.
According to the details of the case, the defendants hatched a plan to carry out a burglary at a jewellery shop in Doha's gold market area. They broke open the door of an adjacent store and then made a breach in a wall separating the two shops, the daily said.
They then entered the store they had targeted and decamped with jewellery and luxury watches worth QR8.45mn. They also took the CCTV recorder to avoid being tracked down.
Once the theft came to light, the police were able to detect them shortly as they had booked a room in a hotel in the neighbourhood and rented a vehicle for their operation.
Tools used in the crime were seized from the accused after their arrest. One of the defendants had entered the country earlier as well and was able to flee after committing a similar robbery, the daily added.
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