Muscat: The Royal Oman Police (ROP) arrested four suspected robbers who were allegedly involved in an armed robbery at a leading Omani factory in the Jiffnain area on the outskirts of Muscat last month.
“We have arrested four citizens for carrying out the robbery in which they decamped with 90,000 Omani riyals (Dh842,502) from Oman Cement Company,” a spokesman for the ROP said on Monday.
According to preliminary investigations, the police spokesman added, two of the four threatened the factory staff late in the evening while two others kept watch outside the gate. “They robbed the factory at knife point,” he revealed.
“We had handed over CCTV footage of the incident to the police,” Jamal Shamis Al Hooti, Chief Executive Officer of Oman Cement Company, confirmed to Gulf News.
He said that the police had informed them about the arrests but further investigations were ongoing. “We don’t have details and can’t say much until the investigations are over,” he said, adding that the suspects are likely to be brought to the scene of the crime as part of the investigations.
The company is also optimistic about insurance against the robbery but may have to wait until the police investigations are complete.
After the robbery, the company CEO said, CCTV cameras at the factory caught two robbers in the act.
He said that the robbers had tied up a company employee and threatened him with knives to reveal the location of the cash and hand over the keys. The petrified company employee had no option but to hand over the keys to the safe from which the robbers took 90,000 riyals.
According to a source at the ROP, this was probably a first instance where armed robbers had targeted a big company like Oman Cement Company. However, intensive investigations, CCTV footage and cooperation from some residents helped ROP nab the suspects in less than two weeks.
The police handed over the suspects to the Public Prosecution for further investigations and trial.
