A warehouse used to store stolen cables worth Dh14 million was unearthed by Dubai Police Criminal Investigation Department (CID) teams on September 4, a top official said.
Brigadier Khalil Al Mansouri, Head of Dubai Police CID, told Emirates 24|7 that the 14-member Asian gang has been engaged in this illegal practice for about a year.
Al Mansouri said the gang members performed their robbery in a professional manner. The gang members included Indian, Pakistani and Bangladeshi nationals and they were well prepared with all equipment and vehicles to pick up, transport and store the stolen cables, he said.
“The gang was thriving because of the carelessness of construction companies. The cables they stole were left unguarded on deserted construction sites, which are away from main roads. Their main target areas were Jebel Ali and Al Hebab.”
He said a major problem while investigating these cases is the huge gap between the time of robbery and its reporting to Dubai Police.
“Most of the time, construction companies are unaware that their cables have been stolen. By the time they discover that and report to police, it takes between one and two months.”
“Khmees Al Mozainah, Acting Chief of Dubai Police, ordered us to prepare traps to arrest this gang. We put traps in 12 different locations in Jebel Ali. CID teams were undercover and worked on these sites in construction workers’ uniforms. They worked under very difficult conditions. Luckily, on September 2, an officer suspected a pick-up that was driving about 25km away from the main road. We monitored the pick-up, and saw it heading towards an unguarded construction site.
“Six workers wearing similar uniforms got down and started moving a cable using heavy equipment onto the pick-up.”
He added that the CID officers were ordered not to stop them. “Then, the teams followed them from a distance. Seven CID cars were following the pick-up in sequence to avoid the attention of the pick-up driver.
“The driver was very smart. He went to Al Qouz Industrial Area, but kept on going around one of the warehouses for an hour to make sure he was not being followed. Then, he entered that warehouse.”
He pointed out that on September 4, CID teams raided the warehouse. “We arrested the 14 gang members while they were busy cutting the cables. They were supervised by the gang leader who was the same person who rented the warehouse a year ago. We seized three containers which had raw copper and which was ready to be shipped to one of the Asian countries. We also found eight cables which were ready to be cut.”
Al Mansouri pointed out that the gang members were very smart. “They used everything that came with the stolen cables. They cut the cable into three parts. The rubber cover was shipped to a European country, which uses the rubber to make tyres. The copper was shipped to an Asian country. And the metal roll on which the cover was wrapped was cut into pieces and sold to a neighbouring emirate.”
He added that the gang also stole some cables from a neighbouring GCC country.
“I ask all construction companies not to leave cables without any guard on deserted construction sites. If they do, they must inform a nearby police station which will make sure to include that site into the police patrol schedule.”