Elderly national strangled to death in Al Aweer

Five men who strangled an elderly man to death in his bed for the sake of Dh500 were arrested within 48 hours.

Dubai police were alerted to the incident at 5.30am last Sunday by the victim's son.

Brigadier Khamees Al Mazeina, Director of Dubai Police Criminal Investigation Department, said the case had caused panic among residents and thanked Sharjah police and Ajman police for their cooperation in solving it.

"People were scared because the thieves killed the victim inside his house. When his wife went to wake up her husband for morning prayers, she found him dead on the floor."

He added the gang had gone into the old man's bedroom and hit him on the head.

They tied his hands and feet and strangled him to death with his ghutra (the red and white head cover which UAE national men wear). They then took a small safe from his room.

He added it was the first time such a crime had taken place in the area.

The five suspects have been identified as S.M., K.K., M.A., M.R. and M.N. They are all aged between 25 to 30.

Brig Al Mazeina said two of the suspects were from Sharjah. One works for a food company, while the other works for a lady's clothing company.

He added the three other men were from Dubai. One was a driver for the victim's friend, and the other two were farmers.

"We suspected a sixth man, who lives in Ajman, was also involved in the case, but later on we discovered he was innocent," Brig Al Mazeina said.

He said they quickly began a thorough investigation and succeeded in identifying all five suspects within 48 hours. "We found the main person accused in the case, S.M., was the driver for the victim's friend. He used to come a lot to the victim's house, and that's how he knew many things about the family. He planned the whole thing.

"We found the safe half buried in a deserted area in Sharjah, and during questioning, we discovered the thieves found only Dh500 in the safe, along with some documents and personnel papers."

Brigadier Al Mazeina added they thought the old man was killed because he would have been able to identify S.M.