Jewel thieves strike at two Dubai shops

Brigadier Khalil Ibrahim Al Mansouri, Director of the General Department of Criminal Investigation, said that the thieves had rented a store near the jewellery shop and broke the wall separating them to gain entry and rob the jewels.

Police said their investigations showed that the gang had rented a store behind the jewellery shop. The operation was allegedly masterminded by a suspect, who is currently imprisoned in a GCC country. They said the gang used iron rods and other tools to make a hole in the wall and enter the shop, but were caught on surveillance cameras.

Police teams managed to identify one of the suspects within 24 hours and he was arrested in other emirate. The other six men were picked up a few hours later. Al Mansouri said that all seven had arrived in the UAE on visit visas.

They confessed that the plot was hatched by the Asian suspect months ago in coordination with them, Al Mansouri said. More details of the robbery and the subsequent arrests would be announced later, the official said.

Meanwhile, Khaleej Times learnt of another robbery at a jewellery shop in Gold Souq in Deira where 16 kg of jewels have vanished. Naif police station officials rushed to the crime scene and launched an investigation.

One of the biggest heists on Dubai in recent years was in April 2007, when an international gang of robbers known as the ‘Pink Panthers’ brazenly drove two limousines into Wafi City, smashed the front window of a store and escaped with jewellery and watches worth approximately Dh54 million.

This case is remembered for its audacity and because persons present in the mall filmed the attack on mobile phones and posted the footage on YouTube. It also helped the police understand the range of the gang’s activities and triggered Interpol to launch a dedicated project targeting these transnational criminals.

Almost a year later, following an attack in a jewellery store in Vaduz, capital of Liechtenstein, by the Pink Panther gang, Dubai Police asked the Interpol to publish red corner notices against four gang members and provide their DNA profiles to police forces around the world. After the Wafi City attack, the Dubai Police sent the DNA profiles of 14 persons to the Interpol for checks on the DNA database of the organisation.

The subsequent discovery of the involvement of the same persons in the robberies in Vaduz and Dubai was a major breakthrough.

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