Picture used for illustrative purpose only.

The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) at Umm Al Quwain Police arrested a European gang for stealing an iron safe from a villa in the emirate.

The gang members were able to move the safe outside the villa during the absence of its owners and steal all its contents including gold jewellery, sums of money and official documents.

According to Colonel Saeed Obaid Bin Arran, CID Director, Al Salamah Comprehensive Police Station received a complaint from an Emirati in which he stated that upon his arrival with his family back home he found that the villa was in a mess and that the iron safe that was inside it disappeared.

The safe, he added, contained around Dhs150,000 in addition to jewels that belonged to his wife of an estimated value of Dhs300,000 and some official documents for him and his family.

Bin Arran explained that immediately after receiving the complaint, field teams from the CID and Al Salamah Comprehensive Police Station were formed to conduct the necessary investigations and search for the perpetrators.

The field teams managed to identify three men and a woman by tracking their vehicle, which was found to belong to a rent-a-car office in an emirate.

Further investigations showed that they came to the UAE on visit visas and left the country immediately after the complaint was filed.

Thanks to their strenuous efforts, the field teams managed to locate the iron safe, which was found in a desert area in a neighboring emirate.

The field teams found that the perpetrators were able to break the iron safe and steal the contents except for some official documents that belonged to the complainant’s family.

Later, a received tip-off showed that two of the four suspects were on their way to enter the country on visit visas. The two suspects did indeed enter the country on Feb.15, 2023 and rented a vehicle.

The CID agents tracked the two suspects and their investigations showed that they went to a desert area in a neighbouring emirate.

They set a plan and managed to arrest the two suspects while they were in the desert area with their suitcases that they brought to be ready to leave the country.

The suspects were brought to the CID and after taking all legal procedures from the Public Prosecution, the CID agents searched the suspects’ suitcases to find the gold jewelry inside.

Earlier, the perpetrators cut the gold jewellery into small pieces and hid the same in a professional manner inside their suitcases so as to take it with them when they leave the country. A valuable wristwatch was also found with one of the two suspects.

Confronted with the complaint, the suspects admitted that they had entered the villa where they stole and opened the iron safe and took the jewelry and money contained in it.

The complainant and his family recognized the seized jewellery and the wristwatch, which he said it belonged to him personally.