The suspects, aged between 28 and 50, were arrested within 24 hours after the crime which took place at around 5.40am on July 14.
The Sharjah Police have arrested eight Asians who stole 31kg of gold worth more than Dh5 million from a well-known jewellery shop in the emirate. The suspects, aged between 28 and 50, were arrested within 24 hours after the crime which took place at around 5.40am on July 14.
Addressing a Press conference on Sunday, Colonel Mohammed Bayaat Sahoo, director of Criminal Investigation Department of the Sharjah Police, said that the well-organised gang had initially planned to rob the shop located in Al Ghuwair area about eight months ago but failed to do so as the area was always crowded. They were then told by their leader to either complete the mission or return him the money he had spent on their travel and stay in the UAE.
He said: “Four masked gang members broke into the shop and stole all the jewellery on display and completed their job in 15 minutes. They used a rented car for their mission.”
The gang, which also included a Turkish man, was headed by an Afghan who is based outside the country. He had brought the gang members on visit visas to the UAE. Two of them were responsible for providing logistics for the robbery, and three others were assigned the job of turning the stolen jewellery into gold bars to be taken out of the country.
The police official said after monitoring the shop daily for one week and noting the opening and closing hours, the gang member chose the holy month of Ramadan to complete their mission.
Colonel Sahoo said that as soon as the shop owner alerted the police about the incident, three investigation teams from the CID rushed to the spot and after preliminary investigations they raided a room in Ajman, from where three suspects were arrested and another was held while trying to flee the country via Dubai Airport. During investigation it was also found out that the stolen items was handed over to an owner of a gold factory in Sharjah who turned the stolen jewellery into bars. The Dubai and Ajman Police also helped in arresting the suspects.
Colonel Sahoo said that this was a hard case to crack as the suspects had thrown away their masks and other tools used in the robbery and had parked the rented car in a deserted area to ensure they could not be traced.
“The two logistics planners of the robbery managed to leave the UAE four hours after the robbery but another suspect, who had reached the UAE after the incident and handed over the stolen jewellery to a goldsmith for turning them into gold bars, was arrested. This person was the partner of the head of the gang and he also sold the gold bars to the Turkish man,” said Colonel Sahoo.
“We recovered the gold bars which were to be taken to Turkey by one of the suspects,” he added.
