Gang held for stealing copper cables

Dubai: Police have arrested an organised gang for stealing and selling copper cables worth millions of dirhams.

Brigadier Khalil Ebrahim Al Mansouri, Director General of the General Department for Criminal Investigation (CID), said the gang comprised 14 members from Bangladesh, Pakistan and India.

The gang operated would survey and gather information about how various companies transported copper cables but was arrested last Saturday.

The gang owned six pickup trucks and three trailers that they used for the operation. They would pick up the cable reels dropped off by drivers of the companies in abandoned areas in Jebel Ali and Al Aweer and take the supplies to a warehouse in Al Qouz. They would then chop the cables and package them to be shipped abroad.

The companies' negligence is to be blamed for this crime, Brigadier Al Mansouri said. Major General Khamis Mattar Al Mazeina, Dubai Police Deputy Commander General, ordered 12 police units to be permanently stationed in the areas the gang was targeting.

On September 2, a pickup carrying six men in labourers' uniform approached one of the areas and picked up the cable reels dropped off earlier by one of the companies. They proceeded to Al Quoz where they drove around the area for an hour to confuse anyone following them before driving to the warehouse.

"The warehouse was watched for two days before we raided the area at around 4pm. The suspects were arrested red handed as they were cutting the cables and repackaging them to be shipped. The leader, who rented the warehouse for a year was also arrested," said Lieutenant Colonel Ahmad Humaid Al Merri, Director of the Criminal Investigations Division of Dubai Police.

The value of the copper found in the warehouse was put at around Dh14 million.