13 of two gangs arrested in Sharjah over robbery of bank customers

The Sharjah Police have busted a gang of eight Afghanistan nationals who allegedly robbed more than Dh200,000 from bank customers. In a separate incident, five persons of the same nationality were arrested in similar charges.

A large number of robberies targeting bank clients has been recorded over the past few weeks in various police stations across the Emirate of Sharjah.

A top police official said all the crimes committed have been carried out by organised gangs. He said the gang members enter the country on a visit visa to carry out the robberies before fleeing the country, with some continuing to live here illegally.

According to the official, the criminals visit the banks to monitor the bank customers before zoning in on those who withdraw large sums of money. They then follow their target and use a variety of swindling methods to deceive the victim before running off with the cash.

In some cases, they knock on the car door of the victim to tell him or her that their tyre is flat. When the person exits their vehicle, one of the gang members snatches the bag or envelope with the cash before fleeing the area.

In one particular case, a gang member knocked on the door of a victim’s car and told him that his cash had fallen and scattered over the floor. When the man exited his car he realised it was fake money but before he could act, the criminal managed to run off with his cash.

The police official also pointed out that some gangs target female shoppers only, following them before snatching and running off with their bag or purse, while some primarily target people withdrawing cash from ATMs.

Following a large number of complaints, the police successfully arrested a number of organised gangs.

During interrogation, the suspects told the police that they used a variety of new methods to carry out their crimes. One such method included the spraying of oil on a victim’s car tyre in a bid to convince them to exit the vehicle and attend to the ‘damaged’ tyre.

And during a raid on the suspects’ residence, a large number of tools used to commit the crimes were also discovered.

The police urged the public and bank clients to be careful after withdrawing money and advised them not to respond to any unknown person when carrying big sums of cash.

All arrests were made in coordination with the Ajman Police.

afkarali@khaleejtimes.com