Qatari court convicts mosque shoe thief
Caught with $1,500 worth of worshippers' shoes
An Egyptian man has been convicted of stealing shoes from a mosque in a city just west of the Qatari capital Doha, local media reported on Wednesday.
A court gave the shoe thief a one year suspended sentence and ordered him deported, according to Qatar’s English-language daily, The Gulf Times.
The 48-year-old man would reportedly make off with the most expensive shoes he could find as worshippers performed Friday prayers at a mosque in the interior city of Rayyan.
He was eventually caught by a Qatari worshipper who had noticed him loitering around the mosque. After finishing his prayers, the local man discovered that his QR350 (100 dollar) shoes had gone missing. After he walked barefoot to his car, he noticed the Egyptian man carrying a bag about a kilometer away.
When confronted, the thief threw the bag over a wall. Inside were 15 to 20 pairs of shoes valued at about QR5,000 (1,400 dollars), the paper said.
The shoe thief maintained his innocence in court.