Man wears abaya, steals Dh1.8m from apartment in UAE

Sharjah Police have arrested two Arab nationals for stealing Dh1.8 million belonging to a company in which one of them worked. The money, which was revenue from the company's sales, was stolen from an apartment of another employee of the same firm.

A duplicate key was used to enter the flat. The first suspect carried out the theft disguised as a woman in an abaya.

Police said that they received a call about a theft carried out in an apartment in Al Taawun area. The caller told the police that the thieves had broken into his apartment and decamped with Dh1.8 million in cash. When police rushed to the crime scene to gather evidence and fingerprints, they found that the door of the flat had been opened in a very professional way, leaving no evidence.

According to the initial investigation, police formed a team of CID officers and launched a manhunt for the culprits. In less than 24 hours, it identified two suspects and zeroed in on them. Police arrested one of them, identified as L.A.A., and on searching his car, they found Dh700,000 which the suspect had kept in a secret pocket. The accused confessed that the money was part of the stolen Dh1.8 million cash.

Sharjah Police with their Dubai counterparts nabbed the second suspect, identified as M.W.S., who was found staying in a hotel in Dubai.

Col Ibrahim Al Ajill, director of CID, said that the investigation revealed the first accused, who was arrested in Sharjah, and the owner of the apartment in which the theft took place worked for the same company. It was found that the stolen money belonged to the firm. The first suspect handed over the cash to the person who owned the apartment, to earn his trust. He somehow made a duplicate key of the flat's door and entered the apartment disguised as a woman in abaya. He stole the cash with the help of his friend, the second suspect, who waited for him outside the apartment.

During interrogation, the suspects told the police that they possessed part of the money, but the rest had been transferred to the country from which one of them hailed.

Based on their confession, the accused were referred to the public prosecution.

afkarali@khaleejtimes.com

• Sharjah

Afkar Ali Ahmed

afkarali@khaleejtimes.com