Dubai: An Emirati couple and their guest attacked by four masked robbers who barged into their Westbourne Gardens flat in London early Tuesday insist they are shaken but in good spirits despite the frightening ordeal.
The second home-invasion styled robbery of Emiratis in London in less than one month has once again raised eyebrows throughout the UAE regarding the safety of citizens who live or frequent high-income corners of the city regularly.
From London late Wednesday, Ali Mohammad Al Tamimi confided in an exclusive telephone conversation that the violent intrusion into his flat by four men was an unnerving experience.
However, Al Tamimi said dealing with the aftermath was softened considerably thanks to the kindness and consideration demonstrated by UAE’s top leaders who reached out in personal phone calls to the victims to assure them everything would be okay.
“I would like to sincerely thank His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, and his son Shaikh Hamdan Bin Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, and Lt General Shaikh Saif Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior, who called to check on our condition despite [the fact that] they were in Brazil,” marvelled Al Tamimi.
He thanked Shaikh Abdullah Bin Zayed, Minister of Foreign Affairs for “immediately following up our case and keeping in touch with us from the first moment until now. It means a lot to me when I had received a call from our rulers and shaikhs to check on our condition,” Al Tamimi said.
He told Gulf News that the attack after 12.30am happened so fast, it seemed surreal.
Metropolitian Police said in a statement that four intruders brandishing weapons ranging from a black handgun, a silver handgun as well as a “large butcher’s knife” burst through the flat door and unleashed bedlam upon the couple.
Belongings
Three other men believed to be part of the robbery waited outdoors while their colleagues in crime liberated the couple of their personal belongings.
Police reported that two mobile phones, £2,400 (Dh14,790) in cash, two passports and identity documents were stolen.
Police said the victims were not harmed in the encounter.
Al Tamimi recalled that a man was in their bathroom to fix a leaking pipe, the doorbell of their apartment’s intercom rang. Al Tamimi went to see who was there but no one answered.
“Suddenly, there was a loud noise , the door opened … the frame of the door, made from aluminium, was broken and one man came toward the apartment and was holding a knife in his hand. I rushed immediately with my friend and closed the door on his hand to remove the knife from his hand,” he said.
“There was strong pushing on the door which threw me and my friend far on the ground, then around four men armed with guns, knives and hammers, entered the apartment which is located on the first floor. I collected my courage and stood up from the floor and again went to speak with the armed men … but one of them pointed the knife toward my chest and the other pointed the gun to my head. They tried to tie me and to stab me three times because I had resisted them,” Al Tamimi said. “They took my friend to the kitchen …and went to my wife in her room to take all [of] our valuables.”
Threat to shoot
Al Tamimi told his wife in Arabic to give the masked men the money and was quickly told to shut up by the men. He said he than “managed to remove the mask from one of them.”
The gang then blurted out that the unmasked man should shoot Al Timini because he saw his face but the man refrained.
“I just heard, “Shoot him, hit him. But the man hesitated. What saved us was the sound of an ambulance siren,” he said.
In an instant, the masked marauders fled the apartment with the Emirati couple’s valuables in hand.
“I opened my eyes. I saw my friend come from the kitchen and my wife came from the room. I asked her: ‘What happened.’ She replied: ‘They took all our valuables, money. jewellery, mobile phones and passports.’”.
Al Tamimi sounded incredulous recounting his own story.
“If any one narrated to me this movie, I would never believe him and say that he exaggerated but now I have had the experience, it’s really horrible,” he said.
In the meantime, all authorities now involved are certainly taking the home invasion extremely seriously.
Especially given the dramatic bludgeoning of three Emirati sisters earlier this month inside of their Cumberland Hotel room by a hammer-wielding stranger who has since been charged with attempted murder along with three other men and a female, all of whom, are British nationals.
On Tuesday, Gulf News confirmed that the UAE Embassy in London is monitoring the situation on the orders of Shaikh Abdullah Bin Zayed, Minister of Foreign Affairs while senior officials have moved the couple to a safe apartment in London near the UAE diplomatic mission.
Latest trip
Embassy officials remained with the couple throughout police questioning for support. The couple will remain in London until police investigations are finished and new passports are re-issued to return to UAE.
The couple went to London two weeks ago to visit the wife of an uncle who received treatment. This latest trip, Al Tamimi said, is one of many over the years in London were they always felt safe.
Mohammad Ali Mohammad Al Tamimi, a son of the couple , told Gulf News that he had received a news alert on his BlackBerry reporting the incident but had no idea at the time that the victims were his parents in London.
He was stunned later in the day when his mother called his sister in the UAE to let the family know the couple was in good condition despite the ordeal.
“Thanks for All Mighty Allah , only minor bruises they suffered, nothing serious as they [the intruders] heard the siren,” Mohammad said.
Another relative, Abdullah Saif, said he was relieved to hear his sister and brother-in-law were okay noting that it “was something like from an action movie … the gang broke down the door with hammers and tools. Within minutes, they were inside the room and stole everything, especially all the money and jewellery. My sister and her husband informed the embassy about the robbery, and also received a call from the Minister of Foreign Affairs Shaikh Abdullah Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, who ordered the embassy to help them in any way necessary..”
When contacted by Gulf News yesterday, an official from Abu Dhabi police confirmed they have sent an advisory group of delegates to assist Scotland Yard until the investigation is completed.
With inputs by Abdulla Rasheed, Abu Dhabi Editor
