Abu Dhabi: A gang of seven men who fled after burgling a house in the western region of Abu Dhabi have been arrested, the Ministry of Interior announced on Monday.
Police intercepted a vehicle and found the occupants wearing face masks and armed with a variety of knives.
A large bat, black plastic cuffs, cash in different currencies, five iPhones, four Blackberries, three Samsung Galaxy smartphones, an iPad mini, a wireless devices and a Nokia phone was also recovered from them.
Colonel Ojeil Ali Abdullah Al Junaibi, director of the Western Region Police Directorate at Abu Dhabi Police, said the gang is accused of stealing cash, mobile phones and gold items from the home of an Asian woman. Gold and silver watches, rings and bracelets were also stolen. Police said the suspects confessed during interrogation.
Wearing masks and armed with knives, the suspects broke into the woman’s house, tied her up and committed the burglary.
One of the accused admitted to doing the paperwork to get five of the suspects into the country on tourist visas. He also zeroed in on the target house in Al Ghayati area and guided the others to it.
One suspect admitted to have driven the others to the target house and back to their residence in Al Baraka area.
The gang has been charged with violent robbery.
According to the victim’s statement, the suspects asked her for Dh20,000 to return the stolen items. She was given 15 days to arrange for the money and was supposed to contact the gang on a mobile phone number that they had purchased specifically for this purpose.
Last year, four men were accused of violently robbing an Emirati woman after she had left her bank in the capital. The defendants stole the victim’s phone, identification cards and Dh1,000 in cash.
Later, the Court of Appeals granted bail to two of the four accused.
