Sharjah: Despite efforts by Sharjah Police to curb robbing of bank customers by gangs, such incidents have continued — often due to customer negligence, said a top official.
Sharjah Police hoped that they had stopped the menace following the launch of an awareness campaign educating customers to be cautious while withdrawing cash from banks and Automated Teller Machines (ATMs).
In an interview with Gulf News, Brigadier Mohammad Eid Al Madhloum, Director-General of Police Operations at Sharjah Police, said that the number of such cases has increased recently due to the negligence of the customers themselves.
“The gangs are professional thieves,” Brig Al Madhloum explained. “All of them are staying illegally in the country and some of them had been previously deported for robberies. But they re-entered the country illegally to carry out their crimes. They target bank customers who withdraw money [from banks].”
Brig Al Madhloum said the gang members usually stand outside banks in Sharjah and, when they spot a bank customer, they knock on the car window to inform the victim that some of his money has fallen on the ground behind the vehicle. Other gang members make up stories about there being a problem with the victim’s tyres.
When the victim steps out of the car to check, another gang member steals the money from the front seat and runs away.
Brig Al Madhloum said police arrested four organised Asian gangs, each with more than five members, who robbed both bank customers and female shoppers during Ramadan.
Brig Al Madhloum said that police have deployed a number of patrols in areas where banks are located and installed surveillance cameras.
The situation is now under control to a certain extent, after several such cases were solved successfully and the culprits taken into custody, he said.
Community members are urged to ignore anyone approaching them after withdrawing money. They should also alert police of any suspicious activity while they are in banks, near ATMs, or when they feel that someone is following them.
“Be extremely cautious after you withdraw money from banks and ATMs, especially if you are withdrawing huge sums of money,” Brig Al Madhloum said.
Meanwhile, in Ajman, gangs using the same modus operandi have been apprehended, police said.
Lieutenant Colonel Abdullah Saif Al Matroushi, Director of the Criminal Investigation Department at Ajman Police, in an exclusive interview with Gulf News, said that such robberies are not new and are also due to the negligence of customers. But he assured the public that all the suspects had been arrested.
The suspects had come to the country illegally or on visit visas from Asia and Africa. Dedicated police teams have been assigned in various areas to tackle bank crimes round the clock.
