Photo has been used for illustrative purposes.

Mohammed Al Mahi, Staff Reporters

The Umm Al Quwain Police arrested a gang of Arabs specialising in faking traffic accidents with the intent of fraud and obtaining financial compensation from insurance companies. The gang confessed to faking more than 20 traffic accidents including 5 in Umm Al Quwain.

According to Major General Sheikh Rashid Bin Ahmed Al Mualla, Commander-in-Chief of Umm Al Quwain Police, the Traffic and Patrols Department detected traffic accidents that took place in the emirate over a short time frame.

The fact that the same vehicles and the same people were involved in these traffic accidents aroused the suspicion of the police.

Following intensive investigations, similar accidents were found to have taken place in other emirates but the same people were involved in these accidents, which showed that they were linked.

Based on the information available, a traffic control team was instructed to look for the gang.

The team could reach some of the defendants and arrest them. On interrogation, the defendants confessed to having faked accidents in Umm Al Quwain and other emirates to dupe insurance companies and obtain compensations.  

The defendants used to fake other traffic accidents without making any repairs to the damages resulting from the previous accidents.

Colonel Saeed Bin Aran said the team detected these accidents by tracking the accidents in the electronic systems and linking them by how they took place, adding that most of these accidents took place in car parks and late at night.

The case was referred to the Public Prosecution for further investigations and follow-up with the affected insurance companies.