Police stations to open in Sharjah industrial sites to fight crime spots

SHARJAH // Police will open several stations in industrial areas this year to tackle cases of violence and bootlegging, a police chief announced yesterday.

Al Sajja, which is known for crimes involving workers, will get its first police station in the first half of this year, said Major General Humaid Mohammed al Hudaidi, the director general of Sharjah police.

"We face many cases of illegal alcohol trading in industrial area workers' accommodations, which tends to evoke many types of violent crimes," Mr al Hudaidi said. "The bootleggers form gangs and then they have fights with rival gangs, because they don't want the others to work in their areas."

Al Sajja has had several murder and bootlegging cases and the most recent involved the murder of a Pakistani man for which 17 Indians were convicted.

In a recent court hearing, Col Abdul Razaq al Asad, of Sharjah Police, told the emirate's appeals court that an absence of a police station in Al Sajja had slowed their arrival at a crime scene.

Mr al Hudaidi also said police were having trouble with drunken workers creating a nuisance for residents. He said at Christmas they had as many as 600 workers, who had been drinking alcohol, gathered together in industrial areas disturbing traffic. Gambling was also a growing threat in industrial areas and last Friday police arrested 130 people for the offence in Rolla.

Police patrols will also be increased this year to curb the trend of people breaking into shops and stealing electric cables, following the arrest of a number of gangs last year. "The people who commit such crimes of stealing electric cables are either absconders or illegal residents," Mr al Hudaidi said.

To combat crimes in which residents pose as police officers from the CID, Mr al Hudaidi explained that Sharjah Police officers now carry an identification card that is written in both Arabic and English.