Dubai: Dubai Police will order all money transport companies in the country to use a new bag or box with strong security features to transport money in a step to reach zero robberies from money transporting vehicles.
Major-General Khalil Ebrahim Al Mansouri, Assistant to the Dubai Police Chief for Criminal Investigation Affairs, said they want to reach zero money transport robberies and they will ask specialised companies to use the bag from the beginning of next year.
“The new bag is designed to foil any robbery attempt. It is part of the new technology that Dubai Police are going to use to tackle crimes in the city. It will be a must for all money transporting companies in 2018,” Maj-Gen Al Mansouri said.
According to police, Dh600 billion is transported in the UAE every year.
Colonel Saeed Al Aiali, director of Wanted Persons Department at Dubai Police, said the idea of using this particular bag which can scare away thieves in the city came up during a brainstorming session attended by Major-General Abdullah Khalifa Al Merri, Commander-in-Chief of Dubai Police, and other senior officers.
“The bag has specific features [see box] to foil any robbery attempt, and it is being used in the US and has helped reduce rate of such robberies in the US,” Col Al Aiali said.
Police recorded one robbery from a money transport vehicle in the first half of this year in Dubai, while two such robberies happened in 2016.
Other emirates have seen an uptick in attacks on money transporting operations in the recent years, most notably by criminal gangs that appear to be operating from some African countries.
“Usually, it is an insider job by employees working in the transporting company or armed robbery. We want to take precautionary measures to reach zero robberies in the future,” Col Al Aiali added.
Police have stipulated new rules for the money transporting companies to prevent such crimes, such as the age of the employees inside the vehicle must be under 45 and the team members should not be of same nationality.
“If they are of different nationalities, it’s better to prevent any plan for robbery. Linking the vehicle to the police command room and paying the salaries of the guards and employees [of the money transporting firm] on time will also help prevent the robberies.
“Some robberies happened because the employees didn’t receive their salaries for more than two months and they betrayed the trust because of that,” Col Al Aiali added.
Bag’s security features
- Built of strong materials which need eight minutes to break open which is enough time for the police to respond to emergency calls reporting robberies
- Strong alarm to scare the robbers
- Exploding ink package to ruin the money when using force to open the bag
- Emission of thick smoke from the bag in case of a robbery attempt to scare the thieves
- Fitted with GPS system to track the bag
