DUBAI, 8 January 2008 — Police in Dubai arrested a gang of thieves who broke into a warehouse through an air-conditioning duct in the roof and stole mobile phones worth 1.3 million dirhams.
The thieves, who included five Uzbeks and one Tajik, entered the warehouse through the roof and then disabled CCTV cameras before proceeding to place mobile phones into plastic bags from boxes for quick transfer.
Col. Khalil Al-Muhairi, deputy director of the Dubai Police Criminal Intelligence Unit, said the gang then left the way they came. He added that the gang did not use the warehouse’s main gates.
Five of the thieves were arrrested a few hours later in neighboring Ajman. Police also seized around 360 mobile phones found in their possession. “We found floor plans of the warehouse with the gang. This ... showed that the gang had planned their crime in a detailed way,” said Al-Muhairi.
He added that this is the first such crime in the emirate and that the thieves operated at a late hour, which helped them flee the crime scene successfully.
Al-Muhairi said that the gang’s leader was arrested later in Sharjah with around 400 mobile phones in his possession. All of the men were on visit visas except the ringleader who was a UAE resident.
