Eight Nigerians have been sentenced to death in Sharjah, United Arab Emirate (UAE), for robbery crimes committed in December 2016.
The sentence is coming less than three weeks after five Nigerians, who allegedly robbed a bureau de change in Sharjah, were arrested.
An online platform in UAE Gulf News reported that Majid Al Muhairi of Sharjah criminal court delivered the verdict after the suspects were found guilty of carrying out a string of armed robbery attacks at money exchanges and cash machines across the emirate in 2016.
A total of 20 suspects were initially held for attacking security guards in four violent attacks staged to ambush security trucks that were transporting money boxes to and from automated teller machines (ATMs), and money exchanges across Sharjah.
The gang was all said to be in the country on visit visas.
Out of 20 suspects, nine were convicted while eight were sentenced to death. The ninth man was sentenced to six months in prison followed by deportation for possession of stolen money.
They were said to have made away with over Dh1,700,000, a sum of which only a portion has been recovered, as the convicts had reportedly divided the money among themselves and transferred it to Nigeria.
Mohammed Rimi, Nigerian ambassador to UAE, had earlier announced that a total of 446 Nigerians are currently serving different terms in the emirates for crimes ranging from possession of hard drugs to engaging in robbery.
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