Trio accused of posing as police to steal jewels and cash

Dubai: Police have arrested a trio accused of stealing stole more than Dh1 million worth of jewellery and Dh200,000 in cash from an Indian businessman's house after posing as policemen.

The three, two Arab men and a Moldovan woman, are accused of setting an elaborate plan in which the two men showed the victim fake police identity cards and a fake search order in English, Brigadier Khalil Ebrahim Al Mansouri, Director of Dubai Police's Criminal Investigation Department, said.

Colonel Salem Khalifa Al Rumaithi, Deputy CID Director for Investigation and Search, said the operation room received a report last month, in which a person said he was robbed at home by two people who claimed to be CID officials.

Col Al Rumaithi said the victim told investigators that the two stopped him on his way home and flashed their IDs and a search warrant briefly before saying that they wanted to search his house after receiving a complaint that he was keeping stolen money.

He took the alleged impersonators home where he opened his safe, which contained Dh200,000, Rs1 million (Dh680,749), and jewellery worth more than Dh1 million.

The two then attacked him and took the money and jewellery before locking him up in the apartment and leaving, Al Rumaithi said.

Lieutenant Colonel Ahmad Humaid Al Merri, director of the Investigation section, said police found that a European woman had parked her car blocking the exit in the victim's building on the night of the robbery. A person whose car was blocked called police for help, Al Merri said.

Police took this as a lead, and contacted the rental agency that owned the car, where an employee told them that the client was on the way to return the car.

The woman was accompanied by one of the men when she arrived. The two were arrested. They allegedly had a bag with half the stolen cash and jewellery. They gave the third suspect's whereabouts. He was arrested and the rest of the money and jewellery recovered. The suspects were referred to the prosecution.

Brig Al Mansouri has urged the public to report police impersonators who fail to provide sufficient identity proof. "Lieutenant General Dahi Khalfan Tamim, Dubai Police Chief, has issued instructions to all security teams to give the public enough time to examine their official identification documents when they arrest or stop any individual," he said.