Armed men arrested for trying to rob Sharjah supermarket

Surveillance footage shows shoppers ditching their trolleys and running away as the masked men go for the cash registers

A screengrab of the surveillance footage from inside LuLu hypermarket shows one of the robbers carrying a meat cleaver.

Two men a who tried to rob a supermarket in Sharjah and threatened staff with meat cleavers have been arrested.

The men – of African origin – wore masks as they burst into LuLu Hypermarket on Al Wahda road at around 11.40pm on March 2.

The supermarket's surveillance footage showed shoppers ditching their trolleys and running away as the men went for the cash registers.

Check-out and security staff tried to stop one of the men as he began taking money out of the till, hitting him with a bottle of milk and eventually restraining him, while other employees called police.

Meanwhile, the man's accomplice managed to flee the shop.

Police arrested the man restrained by the staff then tracked down and arrested his accomplice in Sharjah Industrial Zone Four, where he was hiding out.

During police questioning, the pair admitted to attempting to rob the shop while armed with knives.

Police praised LuLu’s security staff for thwarting the attempted theft and for calling in the crime so quickly, allowing police to arrest the men in record time.

The suspects are currently in prison awaiting trial.