How Dubai Police cracked a Dh1 million theft mystery
Crime scene expert explains how he got the better of those behind the crime
Dubai: It doesn’t matter how smart criminals think they are. crime scene experts invariably get the better of them.
Captain Hamdan Ahli, assistant crime scene expert at the General Department of Forensic Evidence at Dubai Police, revealed how a criminal literally left his footprints while stealing Dh1 million from the treasury of a company. He had also left behind a pair of scissors which he used in the crime.
It turns out that he was an employee of the company itself.
According to the Dubai Police “Hemaya” magazine, the crime came to light when the company complained about the theft of Dh1million from the money safe at its headquarters.
Capt Al Ahli, who was part of the team that went to investigate the crime scene, said according to preliminary information, four employees of the company had to stay late at night to process some important files. But they were shocked when a gang broke into the company through the main door, assaulted them and handcuffed three of the employees with zip ties. The fourth employee was spared and forced to open the safe and empty its contents of money in the gang’s bag. The employee who did as he was told freed his colleagues from the zip ties and informed Dubai Police about the incident after the gang members escaped.
As the taskforce probed the four victims, Capt Al Ahli said he was examining the silent crime scene. He began with the main door, which the gang members had supposedly stormed. It became clear to him that one of them had merely kicked the door violently, leaving his shoeprint on it.
“This ignited a spark of suspicion in me,” Capt Al Ahli said.
After examining the zip ties thrown at the crime scene, he also noticed that they appeared to be cut with a sharp tool. Continuing his search, he found a pair of scissors hidden in one of the drawers.
He then went back to inspect the main door and decided to compare the shoeprints with that of the employees. Sure enough, the fourth employee made a match..
When the fourth employee was interrogated, he admitted that he was the mastermind behind the crime and had persuaded his colleagues to cooperate with him to steal Dh1 million from the safe.