Daring movie-style robbery in Abu Dhabi

Five Pakistani men, apparently influenced by detective movies, stalked a 24-year-old Emirati woman as she left a bank in Abu Dhabi before they violently jumped on her and robbed her on the road in the middle of the day.

The men caught the woman off guard as they used a gutra (Arabian head gear) to blindfold her and their hands to prevent her from screaming before snatching her bag and mobile phone and fleeing through the buildings in Khalidiya neighborhood.

Police described the robbery as a “daring operation and the first of its kind” in the usually quiet and safe city, which has one of the lowest crime rates in the world.

Ensuing investigation and a police manhunt resulted in the arrest of the five men, who confessed to their crime, according to police.

“It was a daring but a cowardly act by this gang. It illustrates a criminal threat that has not been witnessed in Abu Dhabi, before it constitutes a dangerous provocation that must be deterred and stopped as it was carried out during the holy Ramadan,” said Rashid Burasheed, Abu Dhabi CID chief.

He said the five men, aged just above 20 years, had stalked the woman as she left the bank, thinking she had a big sum of money.

“They only found Dh1,300 in her bag. We highly appreciate the woman’s decision to immediately report this crime, an act that helped us arrest this criminal gang after targeting other women in the city.”

He said the five attacked the woman on July 28 using a gutra to wrap it around her eyes so she would not see them. One of them shut her mouth with his hand to prevent her from screaming before snatching her bag and mobile phone and fleeing, he added.

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