Dubai: Four East Europeans were arrested for stealing gold jewellery worth around Dh3 million from different homes in Dubai, police officials said.
The Criminal Investigation Department at Dubai Police (CID) described the members of the gang as “professionals”.
Major General Khamis Mattar Al Mazeina, Dubai Police Chief, said the gang pretended to be tourists and chose their targets in different areas of Dubai and stole during the morning when the home owners were at work.
The gang carefully monitored and chose the houses they targeted.
Major General Khalil Ebrahim Al Mansouri, Assistant to the Dubai Police Chief for Criminal Investigation Affairs, said that the department had received many reports of house thefts in different areas of Dubai, where people broke into houses in the absence of the owners and stole valuables.
He said that the gang was in the country on a visit visa to steal and were staying at a hotel in Naif area.
CID patrols investigated the crime scenes and connected the different thefts and devised a plan to track their movements and catch them.
He said they were caught before they were able to smuggle or sell the stolen items, he said.
Maj Gen Al Mansouri explained that after each theft, the gang would head to the open beach under the guise of recreation, when they were really hiding the items they had stolen in the ground in an area near the beach, which they had marked.
The gang was caught as they were digging up the stolen items and they confessed to their crime. They have been referred to the public prosecution.
The owners of the stolen jewellery identified their items at the CID.
Maj Gen Al Mansouri said that the description of the stolen items was circulated to every exit and entry point of the country, investigation departments and gold shops.
They also informed building watchmen in areas where the thefts took place about the thefts and asked them to report to the department any suspicious activities.
