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Hit-and-run turns out to be well-planned murder

Addressing the media yesterday, Colonel Ebrahim Al Mansouri, Deputy Director of the Dubai Police Criminal Investigation Department, said two Asians were arrested on Sunday in connection with the Dh329,000 robbery and killing of a Sharjah-based Indian businessman, Shameer Moosa, on July 6.

Col Al Mansouri said the Operations Room of Dubai Police had received information that a man's body was lying on the internal road of Ras Al Khor. The man had succumbed to his injuries apparently caused by a hit-and-run motorist.

However, after conducting investigations at the scene of the incident, the investigators suspected some foul play as the body was found at a distance of 1500 metres from Dubai Islamic Bank in Al Aweer, which the victim had visited to withdraw Dh329,000. More importantly, the place where the body was found was two kilometres from his work place and there was no trace of the victim's car.

The deceased's wife told the police that Moosa had gone to the bank to withdraw Dh329,000. However, the police recovered only Dh10,000 from the victim's wallet.

A special CID task force was deployed and 60 teams fanned out in Dubai and Sharjah. Soon the victim's dented car was found abandoned in a deserted area in Sharjah.

Investigations further revealed that the white Prado car had been noticed by undercover agents near the bank on the day of the incident and two people were noticed sitting in the car.

Checking

The police checked more than 2,800 Prado jeeps which had similar specifications. On July 13 around 7pm, a police officer who monitors banks saw an Iranian national, Aftishar Zada, driving a white Prado car. Aftishar was arrested after a huge amount of cash was found in his possession. The Prado car was later found to have belonged to an Indian and Aftishar had stolen it from a petrol pump. During interrogation, he reportedly confessed that he and his associate, Mohammed Ali Al Falahi, a bidoon, had monitored the businessman's bank transactions. On the day of the incident, Aftishar followed Moosa to the bank while Mohammed waited outside in a car. When Moosa emerged from the bank and sat in his car, Mohammed hit the victim's car from behind. When Moosa came out of his car to check what had happened, the two suspects ran their car over him. Aftishar then got into the victim's car and both of them drove away in separate vehicles. According to the police, the bidoon had a criminal record and was said to be involved in eight crimes.

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