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19 March 2024

Infamous Brit thief caught by Dubai Police while stealing Dh1.4m

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By Staff

Dubai police arrested a British man described as one of the most dangerous and famous thieves in the world just a day after he stole nearly Dh1.4 million from two Indian men with the help of another foreigner in the emirate.

Yuri Lewis Harris, 53, had been sentenced to jail in Switzerland in 2010 after robbing a jewelry exhibition and had targeted millionaires around the world in his burglary career that has stretched for more than 30 years worldwide, police said.

His burglaries and big loots have allowed him to live a luxury life as he has many expensive houses, including two in the British cities of Chelsea and Brighton.

He also owns many other properties and was reported to have spent 8500 pounds (Dh52,000) in Oxford Rd in London in just 30 minutes.

Dubai police said the two Indian men have just left Emirates NBD Bank on Baniyas St on April 20 with a bag containing around Dh1.43 million, which they put in their car.

Just as they started the car, a man knocked on the window and asked the driver to nip out of the car. Posing as a detective, the man, known as Stephen Oliver, 49, told the driver that he had parked his car in the wrong place.

The driver suspected his investigator because the car was parked in the right place and the man did not look as a detective. But it was too late.

“Two Pakistani men shouted to the Indians to tell them that the Briton snatched the bag off their car and fled…the Indians then jumped on the other man and caught him,” Dubai’s police commander major general Khamis Matar Al Mazinah said.

“They phoned the police, who rushed to the area and arrested that man…we then immediately formed a police team to track down the other thief…on the next day, we managed to locate Harris and arrested him as he was preparing to leave the country…we found Dh129,000 in his pockets and Dh1.29 million in his bags.”

Mazinah said Harris led a millionaire’s life and his monthly income exceeded 500,000 pounds (Dhthree million). He did not mention the nationality of his accomplice.