Dubai: Twenty Asian men were arrested for stealing electric cables from construction sites in Dubai and other emirates with police revealing that a series of incidents of cable theft had witnessed criminals resorting to similar methods.

Major General Khamis Mattar Al Mazeina, Dubai Police Chief, said that the members of the gang would assault and tie up guards at construction sites before making off with the cables. He said that the gang operatives had little in common except their nationality and did not know each other personally. They would only meet when they planned a raid and each gang member would leave on his own after taking his share of the booty.

“The group divided itself into two groups and has executed a number of robberies in Dubai and other emirates,” Maj Gen Al Mazeina said.

Police had received several complaints about electric cable thefts and, by following up on the leads, they nabbed the gang members one after the other.

Maj Gen Al Mazeina said that the gang would strike at isolated locations where there would not be many residents or people passing by. He said that most construction sites employed a single security guard and in many cases the guards were not qualified, or were too old or weak, and in no position to protect themselves or the site. “Those construction sites have electrical cables worth hundereds of thousands of dirhams,” he added.

Dubai Police had issued warnings on construction site thefts on more than one occasion and launched a number of awareness campaigns targeting construction site owners or companies, he said, but many people didn’t take the warnings seriously.

Maj Gen Al Mazeina called on those responsible for construction sites to ensure proper security measures on site to prevent thefts. He called on such companies to employ more than one guard with the requisite fitness level for the job besides ensuring that the entire site was well illuminated.

Major General Khalil Ebrahim Al Mansouri, Assistant to the Dubai Police Chief for Criminal Investigation Affairs, said that one of the sites that had been targeted by thieves belonged to a government entity. “They stole Dh300,000 worth of electric cables from that specific site.”

When the police went to that site, they found that the guard was badly beaten and his hands and legs were tied. He was taken to the hospital. After treatment, the guard was questioned and said that all he knew was that there were around 15 people and that they spoke his language.

By working on the different leads, police were able to apprehend one of the suspects, who confessed to the crime. Police recovered some of the stolen cables from the suspect who gave details of two other suspects but maintained that he did not know any of the others in the gang.

After arresting and questioning the two other men, police were able to track down another seven suspects, all of whom confessed to the crime and admitted to having sold the cables in another emirate and sharing the money among themselves.

Maj Gen Al Mansouri said another theft was reported during the same period and the investigation led to the arrest of the other 10 suspects.