DUBAI (Web Desk) – Dubai police have smashed two foreign robbery gangs that targeted jewelry in villas in the emirate and recovered nearly Dh15 million in stolen items, the emirate’s police commander in chief was reported on Monday as saying.
The two separate gangs included Americans, Mexicans, Colombians, and Sudanese and one gang used GPS services to locate the targeted villa in the city before stealing its tenants’ jewelry and dumping the empty boxes in the sea.
Most of the burglaries targeted luxury villas, the latest of which took place on June 28 when an Emirati reported his house was robbed while he was away.
“They robbed 24 villas and houses, using the advanced GPS service to locate the targeted place…the two gangs stole jewelry worth nearly Dh15 million but almost all the stolen items have been recovered,” police chief Major General Khamis Al Mazina said, quoted by the Arabic language daily Emarat Alyoum.
“The areas which were targeted include Safa, Tilal Al Emarat (Emirates Hills), Rashidiya, and Jumeira…most of the burgled houses were empty at the time of the robbery as their owners were away.”
Mazinah said the June 28 robbery prompted a massive police deployment operation that resulted in the arrest of a Sudanese who had used a fake European passport to rent a Range Rover from a local rent a car company.
He added that investigation showed that the Sudanese, who was born in the UAE, lives with a friend in Sharjah, where both of them were arrested with the help of police there.
Mazinah said the Sudanese confessed of providing “logistic services” to the thieves and that he told police he met the Colombian gang leader, identified as Andreas, while in prison in Malaysia in connection with drug dealing.
“The Sudanese admitted that after he and the Colombian were released from prison, they remained in touch through social networks…he then helped the Colombian and his friends to come to the UAE,” Mazinah said.
“The arrest of the Sudanese was just the tip of the iceberg…our men later succeeded in locating the gang members in Oman, where they were captured in collaboration with the authorities there….we learned that they smuggled the stolen items inside toys and we managed to recover almost all those items worth more than Dh12 million.”
Another senior police officer said another jewelry gang had been busted in the emirate, adding that it was involved in operations similar to those by the Colombian gang.
Major General Khalil Al Mansouri, assistant police commander for criminal affairs, said a rented Range Rover car led police to the whereabouts of the thieves in Sharjah.
He said police arrested three gang members, an American, a Colombian and a Mexican, adding that they violently resisted arrest.
“Our men recovered the stolen items worth more than Dhthree million…another Colombian was later captured as he tried to leave the UAE through Hili border point…we discovered that these two gangs operate separately but are managed by a man from a southeastern Asian country…we are in touch with the authorities there to have him arrested,” he said.
