22 November 2009
Police officers of both emirates said thieves are looking for long cables which can be melted to extract valuable copper for sale.
During the past one month alone, more than 100 people who allegedly committed more than 50 thefts in Sharjah and Dubai were arrested from the two emirates in joint operations.
“Copper fetches handsome prices in the black market,” said Lt-Col Yousif Al Naqbi, Director of Investigation Search Department of Sharjah Police.
“The stolen wires had a length of 10 metres or more. In some cases, the same outlets were robbed twice in a week.”
The gang appeared to have specialised in gaining entry into these outlets by using iron saws and screwdrivers to break locks, he added.
Owners of a number of warehouses and outlets in Sharjah Industrial Area and Dubai have urged the authorities to tackle these organised thefts. They said metal traders who were willing to buy stolen goods were encouraging the robbers.
Owners of electrical shops in Sharjah blamed the lack of proper street lighting in the industrial areas for the increasing incidents of theft, while the police asked shop owners to instal alarm systems connecting the police operations room.
Victims speak
Sameer Salih, one of the victims in Sharjah, said his shop was robbed in January 2008. Items worth Dh248,000 were stolen.
These were recovered and returned to him by the police in January this year after they arrested six Pakistani nationals who targeted outlets and warehouses in industrial areas and under-construction buildings.
“The police recovered a large number of stolen items from the gang, including large quantities of copper and electric wires,” Salih said.
The thieves struck again two months ago. Items worth Dh80,000 were stolen. “I read in newspapers that 52 thieves were arrested in Sharjah and Dubai on October 26 and 27, but my stolen items had not been recovered yet,” he said.
Irshad Allamu Al Deen, another victim, said he has been selling electric wires for 10 years. But earlier this year, his warehouse too was robbed and consequently, he could not honour cheques owed to various companies with which he had contracts to buy cables from.
“I spent ten days in jail as a cheque I gave to a company for the goods I bought bounced. I would have been able to honour the cheque if the goods were sold but they were stolen and are yet to be recovered by the police,” he said.
Al Momen Electric shop in the industrial area was robbed of a large quantity of cables on September 20 this year. The shop’s owner, who did not want to named, said that the industrial areas have become a sanctuary for runaway workers, criminals and thieves whose numbers have increased due to the financial crisis which forced companies to lay off a lot of their employees.
Ahmed Al Merri, Director of the Criminal Investigation Department of Dubai Police, said during the past two months, Dubai witnessed a couple of serious cable thefts. In one, cables worth millions of dirhams were stolen and in the other, a watchman, who had tipped the police off, was murdered.
Alarm systems
Officials of Emirates International that sells theft protection equipment said most of the investors choose not to install these equipment due to their high cost.
He said there are two methods of theft protection — installing an alarm system at the warehouse that are connected to the police’s operations room and an alert system connected directly to the owner’s mobile phone.
Al Naqbi urged the owners to connect their warehouses with the police’s operations room and those who are already connected should keep the alarm on before they close their premises and leave for the day.
Police’s advice
Al Naqbi said the Investigation Section of Sharjah Police is working hard to curb electric cable thefts which increased this summer by 20 per cent.
The police have succeeded in arresting many thieves and are investigating many other thefts. The police have already deployed undercover officers to watch the jobless and absconding workers in industrial areas and strangers in residential areas, he added.
Al Merri said most of the cable thefts from stores, warehouses or companies in Dubai happened due to lack of basic security measures. For instance, some companies store the expensive cables in deserted sites with no security personnel to guard them.
Al Merri said Cable thefts formed more than 20 per cent of the crimes reported in the emirate last year. As many as 73 cable thefts were reported till September this year and the police managed to arrest 45 people in connection with these.
Contracting companies are leaving electric cables outside their work sites for long stretches of time. The companies which have the capacity of launching projects worth millions of dirhams should hire private security companies to guard electric cables and install warning systems linked to the police’s operations room.
He urged contracting companies and shops selling electric cables to cooperate with the police to put an end to the crime. Companies storing expensive items such as cables must inform the police in advance so that the police can intensify patrolling in those areas.
