Emirati woman’s costly watch recovered from abroad eight months after it was stolen in Sharjah airport

Sharjah: A precious wristwatch that an Emirati woman had lost while leaving the country through Sharjah International Airport has been recovered from overseas eight months after it was stolen, a police official said.

Police said they found the watch after the owner reported its loss to the police. Lt. Col. Matar Sultan Al Ketbi, Head of the Airport Police Department, stated that the department received a report from a citizen in February, stating that his wife lost a precious watch at one of the security checkpoints at Sharjah International Airport upon her departure.

Officers of the airport operations rooms and investigation teams swung into action to track the movement of passengers and their efforts paid off when they were looking at the CCTV cameras. It turned out that a man of Asian nationality, who was traveling on the same flight, had taken the watch from the checkpoint and hid it in his belongings. His identity was determined and he was arrested eight months after his theft upon his return through one of the airports in the country. He admitted to stealing the watch and legal measures were initiated against him, police said.

During investigation, the man admitted that that the watch was at his residence in another Gulf state. Officials at the Airport Police Department in Sharjah allowed him to communicate with his family members in that Gulf country and asked them to send the watch to the police following due protocol.

Lt. Col. Al Ketbi said they contacted the complainant who came to the department and identified the watch. The family extended their sincere thanks and appreciation to the Sharjah Police General Command for their painstaking efforts in retrieving the watch from another country.