Gangsters including a 'princess' steal Oud worth Dhs12m in Dubai, 4 arrested

Dubai Police arrested 4 gangsters of a gang of 8, including a woman, who stole luxurious Oud worth Dhs12 million from a merchant.

The police recovered the stolen Oud within less than 12 hours of committing the crime and issued a red notice for the other 4, including the woman who impersonated a princess.

Dubai Police stated that the details of the crime began when two gangsters headed to a luxury Oud store in a local market and deceived the merchant (the store owner) by claiming that a prestigious princess was coming to Dubai and wished to purchase a very expensive luxury Oud.

The merchant started to prepare a large quantity of the finest Oud for them, then contacted them and expressed his desire to meet the alleged princess, and both parties agreed to a meeting.

The gang prepared a modern villa with bodyguards to deceive the merchant, organised a lavish reception for him, and prepared a luxurious dinner to make him believe he would indeed meet a princess, according to Dubai police.

While the merchant was with the gangsters in the villa, he showed them the luxury Oud he had brought for the princess in his personal bags.

They asked him to place the Oud in other bags more befitting a princess than the ones he had brought, so he took out the luxury Oud and placed it in the bags they provided.

The alleged princess came and met the merchant and asked him to finalise the purchase procedures.

After she left, the gangsters asked him to wait until they put Oud back to his bags, telling him that they would contact him the next day to complete the purchase.

The gangsters allegedly took advantage of this opportunity and placed ordinary wood in the merchant's bags instead of returning the luxury Oud.

They then handed the bags to him and the next day, the merchant tried to contact them, but phones were off. When he reportedly opened the bags, he discovered that he had been robbed and the Oud replaced with wood.

Consequently, the merchant filed a report with the Command and Control Centre at Dubai Police.

The General Department of Criminal Investigations (CID) instantly formed a specialised team upon receiving the report.

The team headed to the villa and started investigations using the latest technologies, analytical software, and cameras to track down those involved.

After 12 hours, 4 of them were arrested, and the valuable Oud was recovered. For the other four gangsters, including the woman who impersonated the princess, Dubai Police identified them and issued a red notice against them after it was revealed that they had left the country immediately after committing the crime.