Sand theft: Man gets 3 years in jail

The Lower Criminal Court sentenced a Bahraini man to three years behind bars in absentia for stealing sand and stones from a plot and selling them for more than BD500,000.

Court files say, the suspect committed the crime after leasing the property claiming to use it for a project. However, the landlord found that he instead fenced the property and excavated all of the sand and stones from there and sold it.

“During negotiations, he pledged that he would build a project on the land. Thus, we agreed to lend it to him,” the owner said in her complaint.

“Then we found out that he dug out all of the land and stones from there and sold it to a third party. He also ran away before lodging the complaint,” she added. The man was held guilty of dishonesty and fraud.