Dubai nabs diamond thiefs with Dh12m loot

In a sting operation codenamed 'The Prince,' Dubai Police have arrested members of an East European gang who had seized diamonds and gold jewellery worth Dh12 million in Dubai, Major General Khamis Matar Al Mazeina, Dubai Police General Commander, revealed on Tuesday.

He told a press conference that the heist, plotted jointly by the ring members in Dubai and Paris, took place on December 12 but within 72 hours, police were able to catch the robbers on December 15.

Giving details of the robbery, Al Mazeina said the Naif Police Station had received information from BS, a vendor at a jewellery shop in Dubai, stating that a European person, who introduced himself as Christopher, and another man, FK, came to the shop wearing precious diamonds, and gold rings and watch, and told him that he had been sent by the company's Arab owner in Paris.

The police chief said that the vendor allowed the two robbers to view some jewels after he contacted the company owner’s in Paris and took his permission.

On the following visit, he explained, the two robbers packed 6.5kg of gold and diamond jewellery worth Dh12 million in a diplomatic suitcase after the vendor received a call from the owner to hand over the package to them. According to the deal, the owner was to receive the payment in Paris but the deal collapsed and the robbers vanished with the loot.

Police investigators found that the other members of the ring in Paris forced the company owner at gun point to convey the orders by phone to the vendor to hand over the jewels to the two robbers. The company owner was released after his captors were assured by accomplices in Dubai of the delivery of the suitcase to a third member of the ring, MK, but he immediately called the vendor to alert  the police about the plot.

After intensive search and investigation, the police managed to arrest the robbers within 72 hours and recovered the stolen items.

 



 

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