RESIDENTIAL BURGLARIES ON THE RISE IN SHARJAH

of such burglaries blame the Sharjah Police for not taking serious action to arrest the thieves.

All the burglaries have been reported by the victims to various police stations whose officers inspected the crime scene and took fingerprints, promising that they would investigate the cases and keep the victims informed about their stolen items. In most cases, the thieves had broken the doors of flats during the absence of tenants, except in one case where the thief had a key to the apartment in a building near Ansar Mall.

The tenant of that apartment, Shama Malekar, said that the real estate office had only given them one set of keys when they had moved in last year. Jewellery worth Dh20,000 was stolen with some expensive personal stuff like sunglasses.

“The whole bedroom was a mess. The burglary took place before Eid, and we went from one police station to another till at last we lodged a complaint and showed the police the photos of the stolen jewellery on the mobile phone,” Malekar said. The police told them they will look into the case after Eid. “Till date, we remain clueless about what is being done by the police to arrest the thief,” the tenant observed. “When we went to inquire, the police told us to come in the morning. As we are working in Dubai and we don’t have time to go every day to the police station, we have just given up and left it to God,” she said.

Shailesh, Malekar’s husband added that when they went to the Sharjah Mega Mall’s police office, they were directed to go to the CID office in Rolla. Officers for that station went to our apartment and took fingerprints. “The CID asked us to come back to give the fingerprints. We went to their office several times, but nothing happened as yet,” Shailesh said, adding that he suspects the thief to be someone living within the building as he knows their working hours. He alleged that the maintenance and plumber workers came to their apartment two days before the burglary took place and spend a long time fixing stuff in the house. “We had told them our timings, so they could come to finish the work when we are at home.”

Anil Kumar, a resident of Juma Al Majid building in Al Nahda, said that on December 16, he went out with his family and a guest who came from abroad. Before they left home, they made sure that the flat door was locked, since he kept the money and jewellery at home. “After he returned home, we found the apartment’s door lock broken and jewellery worth Dh40,000 stolen. The tragedy is that half the stolen items belonged to the guest.”

Anil said he had filed a complaint at the Al Buhaira Police Station, and that police officers came immediately to the place. They inspected the scene, asked us questions, took photographs, as well as fingerprints from the door. “But we are still in the dark with regard to the progress of investigation. I don’t know whether the thieves had been caught or not. Since that day, my family and I don’t feel secure, especially since the police did not take any action. The thieves might come back and commit a crime worse than stealing,” he said.

An official from the Sharjah Police said that they cannot consider a few thefts as a ‘phenomenon’. “These are normal theft complaints which take place every day anywhere in the world. If the police is convinced that these robberies are carried out by an organised gang, then we would carry out comprehensive investigation, and announce its results to the public after apprehending the culprits. But these are individual incidents of theft, and investigators will take time to collect all the evidence that led to those thefts. All complaints filed at any police station by any victim on any crime are taken seriously, the police launch an immediate investigation and keep following up the case till the offender is arrested,” the official said, refuting claims that the police are not taking any action to stop the series of thefts or find the culprits.