Dubai: Dubai Police have recovered Dh2 million in gold stolen by masked thugs in a brazen smash-and-grab robbery at a Naif gold shop last Friday.
Uniformed police officers raided the thieves’ hideout within 24 hours of the robbery, thwarting the group’s plans to flee the country, said Dubai’s top cop on Sunday.
In total, five men and one woman from Hong Kong were busted in the raid on a rented flat in the Chinese cluster of International City in Dubai.
Major-General Abdullah Khalifa Al Merri praised his officers’ work to apprehend the architects of a spectacular theft in such swift fashion.
#Video :#DubaiPolice arrest masked robbers within 24 hours.#News #YourSecurityOurHappiness pic.twitter.com/eVX0su3ehX
— Dubai Policeشرطة دبي (@DubaiPoliceHQ) April 9, 2017
“Just 24 hours after receiving the emergency call, the gang members were arrested and the jewellery recovered despite the fact they were masked and no evidence was left behind. It was a great effort by our officers,” Gen. Al Merri said.
Major-General Khalil Ebrahim Al Mansouri, Assistant to the Dubai Police Chief for Criminal Investigation Affairs, said the robbery happened in Naif area early Friday morning when three masked men smashed their way into the jewellery shop, grabbed as much loot as they could and fled the scene 31 seconds later with a king’s ransom in gold.
“It was 5am in the morning when we received the call. The shop contained Dh60 million worth of jewellery but they only robbed Dh2 million worth. They were professional as they were masked and avoided CCTV cameras. They had monitored the place before committing their robbery,” Gen Al Mansouri said.
“They entered the country on March 16 this year and stayed for two days before departing to a Gulf Country and then returned on April 1, and after five days they raided the gold shop,” he said.
Colonel Adel Al Joker, head of investigation at Dubai Police’s Criminal Investigation Department (CID), said that after a surprise raid on the hideout flat, police discovered the gang had already melted some of the stolen gold jewellery in order to smuggle it outside the UAE.
Al Joker said the quick arrests of the professional thieves as well as full recovery of stolen property is a stern warning to other would-be criminals who mistakenly believe they can hoodwink Dubai’s police and sneak out of the country with their ill-gotten gains.
“It’s a major strike by Dubai Police against organised gangs and a direct message that Dubai will crack down on any gang committing robberies in the city,” Colonel Al Joker said.
