- Thursday, April 25, 2024
By: Shubham Ghosh
POLICE in India have recovered a stolen watch customised for iconic footballer Diego Maradona and arrested a suspect behind the alleged theft in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates, officials said on Saturday (11).
According to sources in the police, the suspect named Wazid Hussain was detained in the northeastern Indian state of Assam and found from him a Swiss-made Hublot watch after he fled to India following an alleged theft in the United Arab Emirates city, AFP reported.
Hussain, 37, had been working as a security guard at a Dubai-based company since 2016 where memorabilia related to the late Argentinian footballer were stored, the police added.
They said the single-edition watch priced around $26,500 (£19,966) has a picture of the World Cup-winning star engraved on its back and carries his signature with his famous jersey No.10.
“Though there are many limited edition watches available this watch was customised for Maradona,” Rakesh Roushan, superintendent of police of Sivasagar, Assam, told AFP quoting information received from Dubai authorities.
Maradona, regarded as one of the greatest players of the game, died in November 2020 of cardiac arrest at the age of 60.
Himanta Biswa Sarma, the chief minister of Assam, said the local police held the accused after receiving a tip-off from their counterparts in Dubai.
Police said Hussain denied the allegations against him and added that he had returned to his native in the Indian state in August on the pretext of seeing his ailing father.
The Press Trust of India reported that several memorabilia, including a cap, shoes and a doll have also been recovered from the house of Hussain. It is being ascertained how much of all that has been recovered belonged to Maradona, the police said on Sunday (12).
“Ref recovery of @hublot Watch of Late Diego Maradona, more memorabilia have been recovered. Jacket, track pant, T shirt, Shoes, toy doll, Squash racket, watch, lighters, Cap and iPads,” special director general of police (law and order) GP Singh tweeted.
He added that the origin of the items is being probed. The Sivasagar Police said on its Twitter handle that a search operation was carried out at the house of the accused on Saturday night.
“It is to be ascertained how much of them belong to Maradona,” the tweet added.
