Dubai Police arrested 19,773 wanted suspects last year

Dubai Police has teams specialised in tracking down suspects and they are deployed across the country, Al Qamzi said.

“We have a department for the wanted suspects in the UAE. Our teams have plans to arrest wanted people even for other emirates. There is a positive cooperation between the public and police. People provided us with tips that led to many arrests,” he said.

We issued 271 red warrants last year and arrested 289 people wanted by other countries for various crimes like money [laundering], human trafficking, financial crimes and being members of organised crime

- Colonel Saeed Al Qamzi, Deputy director of Wanted People Department at Dubai Police

The department also helped catch 289 people wanted by other countries in 2018 and handed over 120 suspects while the red warrants issued by Dubai Police helped return 42 wanted suspects to the UAE.

“We issued 271 red warrants last year and arrested 289 people wanted by other countries for various crimes like money [laundering], human trafficking, financial crimes and being members of organised crime,” Al Qamzi said, adding that there was a 20 per cent increase in the number of wanted people arrested in Dubai in 2018 compared to 2017.

Colonel Saeed Al Ayali, director of the Wanted People Department of Dubai Police, said they arrested an Asian man in financial cases totalling Dh328 million and another for Dh131 million worth of financial cases.

“We have a suspect who was wanted in 107 cases in UAE over financial cases worth Dh4 million,” he added.

Dubai Police teams are equipped with an electronic programme that lists the wanted people. Some were caught on arrival at Dubai airport and some were tracked inside the country with the cooperation of other police departments.

“We refer them to court with their extradition file and the judge issues an order whether to extradite them or not,” said Al Qamzi. The Wanted Department has a diplomatic section to cooperate with embassies and consulates for their people for quick procedures and last year, the department received 7,745 calls for different inquiries.

“Brigadier Jamal Al Jalaf, head of Criminal Investigation Department, always encourages us to follow up the inquiries from consulates and embassies regarding their people,” he said.

Initiatives

The Wanted Department has launched a video-conferencing ‘remote trial room’ to allow defendants to appear for criminal proceedings while incarcerated.

“The virtual courtrooms are designed to facilitate and improve services for defendants as well as speed up the judicial process. About 38,000 people have benefited from the initiative since it was launched a year ago. Most of the suspects were wanted in financial cases,” said Al Qamzi.

Another smart service enabling residents to check their criminal status in financial cases has benefitted more than 43,000 customers since its launch in September last year.

The ‘Criminal Status of Financial Cases’ smart service, available on dubaipolice.gov.ae or the Dubai Police App, can be used with a valid Emirates ID.

Meanwhile, about 7,000 people involved in financial cases were alerted by a text message sent by the Wanted Department in Dubai police.

“Our aim is to ease the procedures on people so they can go and clear their financial cases to avoid being in troubles.”

In numbers