Dubai: Exchange houses in Dubai share responsibility in securing their premises to prevent crimes from happening or criminals easily making off with their loot, senior officials from Dubai Police said.
Senior officials of the Dubai Police Criminal Investigation Department (CID) on Sunday trained leaders and representatives of the Foreign Exchange and Remittance Group (FERG) on the latest prevailing crimes in the foreign exchange and remittance industry such as detecting counterfeit currencies and exchange house break-ins, among others, and how to prevent them.
Major-General Khalil Ebrahim Al Mansouri, Assistant to the Dubai Police Chief for Criminal Investigation Affairs, urged the exchange houses to remain vigilant and beef up their security to help authorities in securing the emirate.
“Without your cooperation and the security department, Dubai wouldn’t be a successful emirate for tourists and residents. We are trying our best to be closer to you and to talk to you directly to teach you how to stop thieves and perpetrators of crime,” Maj-Gen Al Mansouri told the audience.
“You are on the front lines. Even if you are civilians, you can still be trained to have that sense of security and to be wary of suspicious people so you can immediately notify police. Don’t just depend on police. We want everyone to be [proactive] in preventing crimes from taking place,” he added.
Mohammad Al Ansari, FERG chairman, agreed with Maj-Gen Al Mansouri and underscored the need for all exchange houses and banks to stay on guard at all times which is why they hold continuous training on security.
“We cannot rely on police alone to keep our business secure because our employees are the first on the line to detect any wrongdoings or any attacks. These training sessions will make our employees aware of the different crimes happening in the financial market,” Al Ansari told Gulf News.
Part of preventing crimes is ensuring that exchange houses install all the latest security measures including erecting security barriers, toughened glass up to the ceiling for cash counters, using more secure money drawers, among others, which are already in place at most exchange houses, Al Ansari said.
Colonel Adel Al Joker, Head of Investigations at CID, said police are well adept at catching thieves but their aim is to prevent the crimes before they happen.
Colonel Al Joker said the UAE is a safe country and in Dubai, the number of these type of crimes is very low. "We only have one case per year which is very low. But our aim is to make Dubai completely free of such crimes,” Col Al Joker said.
Security footage and police re-construction of past crimes were shown to tell the participants about modus operandi of petty thieves and organised criminals.
One such example was the Dh3 million robbery at a jewellery shop in International City in July that took place in less than one minute. Police caught the suspects within 48 hours.
Col Al Joker said that crime “could have been prevented because the gang was not organised and they exploited the shop’s security loopholes.” Exchange houses that are not alert could face the same threat."
Rajiv Raipancholia, FERG Treasurer, said they will cascade the information from the training to all the staff at exchange houses.
He said it’s very important for exchange houses to improve their vigilance and train their staff on the security issues. A good number of these type of crimes, like the officer earlier said, could have been prevented.
Modus operandi of criminals
1) Beware of criminals who use sleight of hand technique like magicians.
Some organised criminals pretend as tourists and go to exchange houses to “know what the country’s currencies are”. Then they’d fool the unsuspecting staff to give them thousands of dirhams “to feel” the bills and someone would come in to distract the staff and rattle him. Then the thief would return the cash and steal some amount without the staff noticing it.
2) Oil or car problem
Some thieves stand outside exchange houses and watch out for people with high-value transactions to return to their cars with the cash. Then the thieves would tell the victim that there’s something wrong with his car and he would step out. At that time someone would snatch the money from inside his car and run away.
3) Brandishing toy guns to steal money
In 2015, four masked men looted Dh700,000 from an exchange house in Al Rafaa area. They were brandishing a toy pistol, a taser gun and tear gas canister.
Helpful tips:
1) Always remind your customers to be cautious every time they step out of exchange houses.
2) Never allow bystanders to stay outside your exchange house for a long time as they could be collecting information about your exchange house. If you find any suspicious behaviour from a person or a car that’s always parked outside, inform police.
3) Ensure that all staff members leave the exchange house at same time after working hours. Ensure there is security personnel in the vicinity.
4) Always remember to press the panic button if a robber enters the exchange house. This will alert police. Try to communicate with the robbers to stall them and to allow time for policemen to arrive. When threatened by robbers to hand over the money, always give the small denominations notes first.
