Lessons learned after a costly theft

My financial mistake After thieves stole Dh32,000 worth of goods from her home, this Abu Dhabi-based graphic designer took precautions.

Illustration by Rahl for The National

Ruth Burrows has barred her windows and put barbed wire on her fences. Since moving to Abu Dhabi 14 years ago, Ms Burrows has never worried about security in Abu Dhabi. She lives in a sleepy, quiet neighbourhood on Mina Road with her husband, Taher Saeed, and their seven-year-old daughter, Reem. Most of the neighbours, she says, barely lock their doors. But Ms Burrows says everything changed on December 15 2009.

Now, she says, taking her safety and security for granted has cost her more than Dh32,000 in stolen computers and electronic equipment. Between 12.30am and 5am on that day, Ms Burrows, 41, a freelance artist and graphic designer from the UK, says thieves broke into her villa as the family slept. After leaping a two-metre-high fence, the skilled bandits, she says, removed the pane of window leading to her workshop, which contained several computers and other equipment integral to her freelance business.

"It's not like it was a smash and grab," she remembers. "They thought about it very carefully. They cased the place and then came back. To think I have been sitting working in that workshop and someone's been watching me. I hate it. There were two cars in the driveway that night. They knew we were home - and yet they came in." Nobody heard a peep. The workshop, while connected to the main house, is situated away from the main living area, towards the street, and is flanked by three large windows.

The thieves were methodical, Ms Burrows says, and proved selective in what they took. As well as a Dh12,000 MacBook Pro loaded with Dh10,000 worth of design software, they took a Sony Vaio laptop worth about Dh8,000, a new mobile phone worth Dh2,000, and a laptop mouse and computer bag amounting to around Dh650 combined. But the offenders left behind two other computers, an iPod, an old mobile phone and her ATM card.

Salvaging these items is cold comfort, however. Indeed, Ms Burrows believes these thieves were professionals. "They knew what they were looking for," Ms Burrows says. "I have a drawer full of cables and chargers, which they searched through to match the suitable one with the computers they took. They weren't in a hurry. Then they put everything in a nice laptop bag and left." The workshops doors leading outside were locked when she started work that fateful morning,

"I saw the space where my laptop should have been and some drawers that had been ransacked," Ms Burrows says. "My first instinct was 'My god! I've been robbed'. But straight away my brain kicked in and I thought, 'Don't be stupid, this is Abu Dhabi.' I went frantically searching, thinking, 'what have I done with my laptop'. I thought maybe my husband had been looking for something during the night."

It wasn't until she noticed a haze of mosquitoes hovering near the ceiling that she realised how professional the job had been. "I looked around and saw the missing pane," she explains. "The glass panel wasn't smashed; they had prised away the bottom. It's an aluminium door, so they obviously had tools with them." Police arrived at the scene quickly and searched for clues. "They were very intent, they made me feel very confident that they would really try and solve the crime," Ms Burrows remembers.

No one else in the neighbourhood had been targeted. In fact, a next-door neighbour was downstairs asleep on his couch, his back door unlocked, just metres from the fence the thieves had scaled. The neighbourhood is now on high alert. A week after the break-in, Ms Burrows barred her windows. The wall surrounding the house has been extended and spiked with barbed wire. Ms Burrows has also installed reflective film on some of the house's windows, to prevent peeping Toms, and a carpenter was called in to check all the doors and repair or replace the locks.

In all, the family has spent more than Dh5,000 on securing the house; her husband's employer, Abu Dhabi Gas Industries, paid for the window bars and the carpenter. She has considered a burglary alarm, but Ms Burrows says they have proven difficult to find in the capital. Although she had backed up all the important files on her laptops, she is unable to claim the stolen items with her insurance company. "We had insurance for fire and flood," she says.

"But we're in Abu Dhabi, so we didn't even think of theft as a risk. " Ms Burrows says the MacBook Pro is her biggest loss. Filled with expensive software, the computer is vital to her work, adding that the computer has since been replaced using money from the family's Christmas holiday fund. In hindsight, Ms Burrows says she'll never again take her home's security for granted. In addition to the bars and barbed wire, she is now locking her equipment in secure places at night.

The family is also going to add theft insurance to their coverage. "Looking back, what we should have done is made sure I was insured for my high-value items," she says."Of course, I'm insuring the laptop, but it's a bit like closing the stable door after the horse has bolted." One piece of advice Ms Burrows now likes to impart is this: record the serial numbers of all equipment and electronics, because the authorities can use them in the event of theft or loss. She reported the theft to an online MacBook user forum and posted a message listing the laptop's serial number.

She also contacted the store from which she bought the machine, and its sales staff passed the serial number on to the main service centre, so if it ever arrives for service it will be identified. Unfortunately, Ms Burrows's bandits are still at large. But her best piece of advice is simple. The UAE is safe, she says, but it's important for everyone to remain aware and cautious. She says her break-in should be a warning to others.

"People should be aware of security," she says. "But it's not just about the money. I had a lovely picture of my daughter Reem on the computer desktop, and the thought of somebody else opening the computer and seeing her there just makes me feel terrible."