Dubai: An Asian man, R.S., was arrested after six years for killing his colleague and burying his body in a remote desert area in Jebel Ali in 2008, thanks to the diligent work and follow-up of Dubai Police.

Legal procedures are currently ongoing to bring in another Asian man, M.M.M., who is outside the country, who was implicated in the same crime, a top police official said.

Major General Khamis Mattar Al Mazeina, Dubai Police Chief, said the case started when Dubai Police received a call reporting a body in Jebel Ali area near one of the gates in 2011.

He said that when a team from the Criminal Investigations Department at Dubai Police reached the location, they found the skeletal remains of a man with some of his clothes still intact and a knife next to him.

“Initial investigations by the forensics doctor showed that stabbing could be the cause of death.” He said.

The forensics and investigations team, who were combing the area for evidence, found an ID card that turned out to belong to the victim. When entered into the system, it was found that the victim’s company had filed an absconding case against him when he went missing, which was two years from when the body was found.

Major General Khalil Ebrahim Al Mansouri, Assistant to the Dubai Police Chief for Criminal Investigation Affairs, said, “We spoke to and questioned many of the people who were working in the victim’s company and we knew a lot about his whereabouts on the day before he died and we narrowed down the suspect list.”

But due to the long period that passed until the body was found, many people had left the company, and some had even left the country, he said. “So we circulated the details of the suspects to air, sea and land ports, so if they do try and come back into the country we can take them in for questioning.”

Maj Gen Al Mansouri said that they could not issue an international arrest warrant for their arrest because there was no conclusive evidence incriminating them.

Earlier this year, one of the suspects entered the country on a work visa through Sharjah airport and was taken in for questioning, he said.

“One of our work strategies is that we keep all files and details of unsolved cases even if years pass and so the officers working the case had the entire history and all the details of the case when the man was taken in for questioning.” Maj Gen Al Mansouri explained.

He said that Maj Gen Al Maziena always asks for the files of closed cases to review them and gives suggestions and directions, which helps the teams working on the cases as well as motivates them.

“The man, R.S., was shocked at how much the police knew about the case and eventually confessed that he and the victim were not on very good terms. He eventually confessed to the crime and led the police to the exact location where the body was found,” he said.

R.S. also confessed that on the day of the murder, he asked about the whereabouts of the victim and was told he was in a deserted beach area in Jebel Ali — where workers sometimes go to drink alcohol — and when the man went there, the victim got very upset and told him rudely to leave the place.

“R.S. said that the victim had embarrassed him in front of the other man, M.M.M., who was with the victim, and he said that he felt very humiliated so he took out a knife — that he claimed he kept for security reasons as the area was deserted and there were always drunk people — and stabbed the victim in front of M.M.M,” Maj Gen Al Mansouri said.

He added that R.S. said that he and M.M.M. then buried the body in a shallow grave.