Police arrest gang which targeted bank customers

Abu Dhabi: Police have arrested a four-strong Asian gang who stole cash from a number of bank customers.

The police said in a statement that the gang members, who had stolen more than Dh100,000, had entered the UAE on two-week tourist visas and that the gang was run by a ringleader.

The statement quoted Lieutenant Colonel Ebrahim Hamad Al Hana'i as saying that the ringleader rented accommodation for the gang members in one of the country's cities while they committed their crimes in Abu Dhabi.

The gang members were related to each other and were recruited outside the UAE for Dh3,000 every two weeks.

Confessed

The gang employs a classic trick of one member approaching the bank customer, who has just withdrawn cash, to falsely tell him that his car has got a flat tyre. At that point another gang member strikes and snatches their cash and runs away.

Lt Colonel Al Hana'i said the police had also arrested the gang leader and all of them had confessed to the offences.