New Cairo Misdemeanor Court sentenced on Wednesday four Colombians each to 10 years in prison for charges of house robberies.
The Colombian gang was arrested earlier this month after police received several reports of robbery from residents in compounds in New Cairo’s Fifth Settlement and First Settlement.
The defendants reportedly broke into villas and stole jewelry worth LE1 million, in addition to luxury watches and different foreign currencies.
Police said that the defendants formed a gang that specialized in house robberies at luxury residential complexes of the New Cairo area by climbing and sneaking from windows. Using the tools and the car seized from their possession, the gang committed six house robberies.
Police said they tracked the movements of the suspects after several reports, and they were spotted in downtown Cairo, as they were residing in a rented apartment in Abdeen, and they were subsequently arrested. Police said that two of the defendants were already on the watch-list.
However, the defendants pleaded ‘not guilty’ during court sessions, and said they came to Cairo for a vacation, claiming the day they were arrested they had visited the popular tourist sport Khan al-Khalili to purchase souvenirs, and upon return to their flat they were arrested by the police.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
