Ras Al Khaimah: Ras Al Khaimah Police on Wednesday announced the arrest of four Asian men believed to be involved in an armed robbery of a money exchange in Ras Al Khaimah.
All the suspects arrested on Tuesday are Asian and in their 20s. The gang managed to rob Dh350.000 in various currencies.
Police said the “well organised raid was carried out in less than two minutes and appeared to be like those in action movies”.
Colonel Ali Abdullah Al Munkis, Director of Criminal and Investigation Department at Ras Al Khaimah Police, said that the incident took place on Saturday when the gang entered the exchange and threatened the employees with sharp weapons.
Col Al Munkis said that the gang tied up one employee and threatened another with a knife, forcing him to open a safe that contained cash.
The police operations room received a call about the robbery at around 2pm on Saturday. The suspects managed to escape before the police arrived. It was found that the employees had failed to activate the alarm to alert the police.
Col Al Munkis said that police formed a special team to investigate the case and used sniffer dogs to trace the suspects’ movements. The police also obtained CCTV footage from surveillance cameras at the exchange house. The footage revealed the car’s plate number and its description. In cooperation with Sharjah and Dubai Police, the investigating team managed to identify the suspects and their whereabouts.
The mastermind of the gang, who drove the car, was arrested at an airport as he was about to leave the country. He was living in Shaam, the same area where the theft occurred, and had visited the exchange to make a transfer of Dh1,000 before the robbery on Saturday.
The suspect denied the charges against him but confessed when confronted with the evidence. He admitted sharing the stolen money with three others.
On searching the suspects’ resident the police recovered the money and found sharp weapons used in the robbery.
Two other gang members were arrested in Sharjah in cooperation with the emirate’s police. The fourth member had fled to Dubai but was arrested in cooperation with Dubai Police.
Police investigations revealed that all the suspects had criminal records.
Maj Gen Ali Abdullah Alwan Al Nuaimi, Commander-in-Chief of Ras Al Khaimah Police, said the suspects were identified just 24 hours after the robbery despite the fact they were wearing masks during the robbery.
Maj Gen Al Nuaimi said the police will organise an awareness campaign to educate employees of financial and commercial establishments on the best way to deal with such incidents. They will be educated on how to trigger the alarm and alert the police.
