Sharjah: Eight men were arrested for their involvement in a Dh5 million gold heist within 24 hours of the crime being committed, police revealed on Sunday.
The gold was stolen from a Sharjah jewellery store on July 14. The thieves took advantage of the fact it was Ramadan to carry out the crime, police said.
The operation was led by Sharjah Police in collaboration with Dubai and Ajman Police. Police seized all the stolen gold, which had been melted into raw gold bars, some of which had been turned into gold biscuits. The total weight of the gold seized was 31kg.
Colonel Jihad Saeed Bin Sahoo, Director of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) at Sharjah Police, revealed the details of the incident at a press conference on Sunday.
He said it was a very well-organised operation and was eight months in the planning. “There were ten people involved in the operation. There was the head of the gang, two in charge of logistics who flew out of the country within four hours of the break-in, four men who broke into the shop and stole, and three others.”
The three others comprised two gold traders who bought the stolen gold without a receipt and the third was the gang leader’s gold workshop partner.
Nine of the suspects were Afghans and one of the traders who bought the gold was Turkish. The suspects were aged between 28-50.
Col Bin Sahoo said that events began at 5.44am on July 14, when four of the men broke into the shop in Al Ghuwair.
The men had previously refused to break into the shop when they came into the country eight months ago as they said it was always crowded, but the gang leader told them they would have to pay back the cost of the trip if they did not.
“They chose Ramadan and that early hour of the day so there would be no people and also because they thought the police would not catch them at that hour. Policemen are always ready at any time of the day,” Col Sahoo said.
The men who broke into the shop were wearing clothes provided to them by the two logistics planners, and drove a car, which was rented for them by the planners.
Col Bin Sahoo said that the four men did not really know the gang leader and that they received orders to throw away the clothes and leave the car in a specified sand lot in Sharjah.
Caught at airport
The four men broke the metal and glass doors as well as the windows and then stole the jewellery on display. They were in and out in 15 minutes.
Sharjah Police investigated the crime scene, which led them to an apartment in Ajman, where they held three of the four men believed to have broken into the shop, with the help of Ajman Police. The fourth was caught at the airport. They all confessed to the robbery and said they delivered the stolen goods to a gold workshop in Sharjah.
The two men who were handling the logistics — because they were familiar with the country — had fled the country within hours of the break-in. Police have identified them.
“Each member of the gang had a mission to complete and they chose the holy month of Ramadan to rob the shop after monitoring the shop for a week. They were making sure that the gold in the shop was not stored in a safe or moved out of the shop.” Col Bin Sahoo said.
Colonel Sultan Al Khayal, Director of the media and public relations department at Sharjah Police, said that gold shops should follow regulations by the Ministry of Interior and the Economic Department and put the gold away when the shop closes in a safe that has a security system linked to the police operations room.
Colonel Bin Sahoo, said that after the robbery, the gang leader flew into the country and melted the jewellery into raw gold bars at the workshop he was a partner in. He was arrested, as well as his partner and the two men who bought the stolen gold.
All those involved were on visit visas.
