Muscat: The Royal Oman Police (ROP) busted a gang of thieves in the southern region of Oman, according to a press release issued on Wednesday.
“We have arrested seven suspects, in the age group of 28-37, for their suspected involvement in thefts from shops in different areas of Dhofar region,” a spokesman for the ROP’s Public Relations Department said.
He added that the police had so far solved six cases of thefts where the seven suspects were involved. “They have broken open cash boxes to steal cash as well as mobile phone recharge cards from different locations,” he revealed.
“We caught them red handed while trying to pull of another heist,” he said.
All the seven were handed over to the Public Prosecution for further action.
Meanwhile in Ibri, police arrested four Omanis for stealing a car and vandalising another.
The theft and arson took place when a group of people, on a picnic in Wadi Alain, parked their cars and went inside the wadis (gorge).
“The suspects stole one of the vehicles for a joy ride and broke open the windscreen of another to steal belongings from that car,” the spokesman explained.
ROP investigators found the stolen vehicle abandoned by the suspects, who were caught by police before they could dispose of the stolen booty. The police referred all four suspects to the Public Prosecution for trial.
In another case in Batinah region in north of Oman, ROP’s Criminal Investigation Department arrested two Asian suspects in a case of jewellery theft from a house in Thumrait, about 1,020km south of Muscat.
The interrogation of the suspects revealed that one of the accused had handed over the stolen jewellery to one of his friends in Shinas, about 280km north of Muscat. The stolen jewellery, sold in Shinas by the suspects, was recovered by the police.
Meanwhile, in its campaign against the scourge of narcotics in the country, ROP officers arrested two Asian suspects with a huge stockpile of different drugs.
“We arrested the suspects at a beach in Barka town (about 100 kilometres north of Muscat) and recovered a huge quantity of heroin, opium, hashish and Tramadol,” the ROP spokesman said.
“We arrested them when they were unloading the contraband from a fishing boat,” he said, adding that they recovered 137 capsules filled with heroin, 27 bundles of hashish, four large pieces of opium packets and 180 pills of tramadol.
