DUBAI // Eight people have been arrested on suspicion of stealing 31 kilograms of gold jewellery worth more than Dh5 million from a shop in the Al Ghuweir area of Sharjah.
A joint police team made up of officers from Sharjah, Dubai and Ajman arrested the suspects, seven of whom were from Afghanistan and one from Turkey.
Police said the men, aged between 28 and 50, were in the UAE on tourist visas. They were arrested 24 hours after the store was raided on the morning of July 14.
Col Jehad Saeed bin Sahoo, director of Sharjah Police CID, said the robbery had been planned for eight months, adding 10 people were thought to be involved.
“Two of the men in charge escaped and left the country hours after the break in, but they have been identified,” he said.
“Police captured the leader of the gang and his business partner, the four men who broke into the store and the two men who bought the stolen goods.”
Col Sahoo said police were able to retrieve the gold, which had been melted into bars.
“Four masked men broke into the store and stole all the jewellery on display, leaving within 15 minutes in a rented car before police arrived,” he said. “The men chose to do the robbery in the early hours of a Ramadan morning because they assumed the authorities will not be able to catch them, however, the police are always ready at any time.”
Col Sahoo said the four men who broke into the shop were instructed by their leader to dump their clothes and car in a deserted area in Sharjah.
Investigations led police to an apartment in Ajman, where three of the four men were apprehended, said Col Sahoo, adding that the fourth suspect was arrested at an airport while trying to leave the country.
He said that all four admitted to the crime and said they delivered the stolen merchandise to a gold workshop in Sharjah.
“The men had been monitoring the store for a week and wanted to make sure that the gold was not stored away or put in a safe,” said Col Sahoo.
Col Sultan Al Khayyal, director of the media and public relations department at Sharjah Police, urged jewellery store owners to follow the government’s regulations and to lock jewellery in a safe with a security system that notifies the police operations room immediately if compromised.
dmoukhallati@thenational.ae
