Dubai: Dubai Police’s Lost and Found Department earned Dh6.2 million by auctioning thousands of unclaimed items, officials said on Wednesday.
Major-General Khalil Ebrahim Al Mansouri, Assistant Commander-in-Chief for Criminal Investigation Affairs, said police stations receive lost and abandoned items, and keep them there for around a month so the owners could claim them.
“If no one claims such items, these are sent to the lost and found section at the Dubai Police Headquarters. When these reach the department, we check with other police departments across the UAE to ensure there are no lost item reports or if there are criminal cases involving these items,” Maj-Gen Al Mansouri said.
All items are logged and stored in warehouses until identifying the owner, but if the owner doesn’t come to claim it, then it will be auctioned.
The items auctioned recently included watches, jewellery, cash, smart phones, laptops, tablets and other electronics.
“We have earned Dh6.2 million in the auctions since 2017, including Dh3.8 million in an auction this year. The revenue goes to the state treasury.”
The department is governed by Law No. 5 of 2015 which states that anyone who finds any lost and/or abandoned property, including money, is obliged to hand it over to the police within 48 hours, following which the police will issue a report. The failure to do so invites criminal liability.
Meanwhile, Lt-Colonel Rashid Bin Safwan, deputy director of the Lost and Found Department, said most of the lost items which had been auctioned were handed over to the police stations by hotels, shopping malls and members of the public.
“We honour the person [who hands over the lost item] with a certificate and a reward of 10 per cent of the value of the item, with a maximum of Dh50,000. If a person who lost an item had already left the country, we send him the item by mail after verifying his/her identity,” Lt-Col Bin Safwan said.
The department, he said, delivers lost items to their owners at their homes if they are special needs, sick or elderly persons.
“If a tourist loses an item, we dedicate a team to try to find it immediately, or sometimes send the item to his/her home country. Unfortunately, some people who lose their belongings don’t inform the authority.”
Tourist gets back Dh70,000 watch
Lt-Colonel Rashid Bin Safwan, deputy director of Dubai Police’s Lost and Found Department, said last year, a European tourist received a surprise visit by officers from Dubai Police in her home country as they returned her a watch worth Dh70,000 which she had forgotten in her hotel room nine months ago during her visit to Dubai.
“We found the bill with the watch and went to the shop and managed to get the details of the owner and contacted her. She was so happy when she received her watch,” Lt-Col Bin Safwan said.
In another incident, a man lost his electronic game console and a person found it and handed it over to a police station.
“From the serial number of the game console, we identified the owner and returned it to him. It was a cheerful moment when he got his item back and he wanted to know about the person who found it so that he could honour the honest man.”
