Dubai: A man dressed in women’s clothing stole Dh3 million from a safe using hydraulic tools, but was caught within 47 minutes of his crime, Dubai Police said on Friday.
Dubai Police already had knowledge of a well-known criminal gang operating in the area, who had been linked to a string of burglaries across the GCC region.
They received tip offs about a man dressed in women’s clothing carrying a handbag who was wandering around residential and tourist areas in Dubai. When police caught up with the European suspect he was already back in men’s clothes.
However, they discovered expensive watches and cash in his bag that amounted to Dh3 million.
Retracing the suspect’s movements
When retracing the suspect’s movements they also found another bag, that the suspect had hidden, which contained hydraulic equipment that was used to cut a hole into the side of a safe located at the house of a European merchant that the suspect had burgled less than an hour earlier.
The suspect had targeted the merchant’s property because he knew the victim had flown back to Europe with his pregnant wife.
Police later discovered the safe that was broken into had Dh10 million in it but that the suspect had rushed the job and had only been able to steal Dh3 million worth of cash and precious items.
Major General Abdullah Khalifa Al Marri, Commander-in-Chief of Dubai Police, praised the efforts of the Department for Combating Organised Crime at the General Directorate of Criminal Investigations for their ability to quickly apprehend the suspect.
General Jamal Salem Al Jalaf, Director of the General Directorate of Criminal Investigations at Dubai Police said, “We received information from the Network of Secret Sources of the Organised Crime Department about the presence of a suspect.”
Dressed in women’s uniform
Dressed in women’s uniform, he walked around the area between residential and tourist locations, with a medium-sized bag. Organized crime teams responded immediately to the situation, in accordance with criminal response methodologies for important information. Through the high security of the organised crime team, a suspect was arrested, wearing plain men’s clothes and a medium-sized bag that matched the description of the classified information.
“After precautionary measures taken to make sure the bag was free of dangerous or suspicious materials, we were surprised to find stolen goods worth more than Dh3 million in watches and cash. The suspect admitted to burglaring an residential address in Dubai and it only took 47 minutes to arrest him after his crime.”
Al Jalaf stressed the need for the community to register to Dubai Police’s housing security programme to secure properties during a resident’s absence. He also warned people not to leave large amounts of cash in their houses and instead deposit them in banks.
