Four-member gang involved in Ajman gold heist arrested

Police have arrested a gang that brutally slashed a gold salesman while robbing him and his compatriots of Dh1.5 million worth of the precious metal.

The merchant is in critical condition in hospital. The attackers sliced off flesh from the victim's arms, cutting him right to the bone.

The incident happened on a busy street in Ajman on Saturday at 9pm, said Colonel Ali Majed Al Matroushi, director general of Ajman Police.

The three Indian victims, who worked as salesmen selling gold jewellery from shop to shop, left the Gold Souq in Karama when they were chased by the criminals in a car.

The four assailants, who had been following the trio, flagged them down claiming they were CID officers, Al Matroushi said. They ordered them to get out of their car.

Then one of the gangsters took the car keys from the salesmen and was trying to drive away the car when one of the victims jumped onto the passenger seat. They drove a little distance.

Meanwhile, the other three gang members beat up the two salesmen and then followed the salesmen's car. The gangsters in the two cars met a short distance away at the parking lot of the Ajman Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

The gang members then tried to transfer the gold jewellery weighing about 30kg from the victim's vehicle to their vehicle, Al Matroushi said.

The salesman who had jumped into the car fought with them. The gang members slashed his arms with a knife, cutting off a large chunk of flesh. He lost consciousness as a result of the severe blood loss.

The assailants then grabbed the gold, which weighed more than 20kg, and took off in their vehicle. Another 10kg of gold jewellery was scattered about the area as a result of the fighting. "An eyewitness called 999 and gave the getaway car's number. However, police discovered that the Dubai number plate was reportedly stolen a month ago. The gang had fixed the number plate on a rented car," he said.

Police launched a massive manhunt and after 40 hours the first of the assailants was captured.

Three of the assailants – two Syrians and a Lebanese – worked as goldsmiths. The fourth one, who has no documents to verify his identity, worked as a sergeant with Sharjah Police. The assailants had melted the gold and turned them into bars, and tried to sell them to a trader in Dubai's gold souq.

The trader, suspecting the men, called the police. One of the criminals was arrested later. He confessed to the crime and led police to the gang's lair – an apartment in Al Diyafa in Dubai.