They admitted to carrying out several crimes in different countries

Dubai Police use the «microscope» to arrest an international theft gang

The gang members after being caught red-handed in their crime. From the source

Dubai Police succeeded in arresting an international gang consisting of four individuals, specialized in stealing residential villas, and targeting bank customers, in a qualitative operation called "Operation Microscope", after placing the gang members "under the microscope", and monitoring their movements and movements outside and inside the country accurately, until they were caught red-handed with their crime.

The Dubai Police General Headquarters revealed the details of the "microscope operation" at a press conference yesterday, in the presence of the Director of the General Department of Criminal Investigations and Investigations, Major General Jamal Salem Al-Jallaf, and the Deputy Director of the General Department of Investigations and Criminal Investigations for Research and Investigation Affairs, Brigadier General Mohammed Aqeel Ahli.

Al Jallaf confirmed that Dubai Police received reports of villas being robbed by unknown persons, who took advantage of the travel of their residents outside the country, broke their doors, and stole money and jewelry.

He added that a working group was formed from the General Department of Investigations and Criminal Investigations, to follow up on reports and search for those involved, and was able to reach the identity of four people belonging to an organized gang specialized in robbery and theft of the nationality of a Latin American country, who came to the UAE for the purpose of theft.

He added that the team found that the gang left the country before reporting the thefts, and by following them internationally, it was found that they left for a country in the Middle East, and from there to a neighboring country through land ports.

Al Jallaf said: "From the experience of detectives in Dubai Police, the team made sure that the gang members left for the Middle East countries, and did not leave for their homeland, and that the issue of their return to the country again is just a time, and therefore they were placed under the microscope in anticipation of their return."

He continued: «After about a month, the work team was able to monitor the gang members through the cameras of the program (Oyoun) during their entry into the country, and allowed them to enter to follow them and monitor them by the field work teams, in order to detect whether they have any people involved with them in those reports, or people who provide logistical support to them inside the country, or inference about where they hid the stolen goods in previous reports».

He explained that the work team put the gang members under close surveillance 24 hours a day at all their steps, as they rented a car from rental shops, and went to residential complexes to monitor the villas, and after a while they replaced the car with another, so as not to draw attention to them during their movement, and all their steps were taken under the eyes of the detectives. Al Jallaf stated that the gang members were unable to steal any villa, due to the presence of precautionary measures supervised by the Dubai Police General Headquarters, which required residential complexes to put modern guards and surveillance cameras, light dark areas, and educate and motivate individuals to participate in the "Housing Security" program, which is supervised by the Dubai Police General Headquarters, so the gang members decided to transfer their activity from evening to day, and target bank customers, who carry large sums of money in their possession. He added that the gang targeted a bank customer, and managed to steal more than 60 thousand dirhams, after puncturing the tire of the victim's car, while another surprised him by stealing money from inside the car, but their crime was under the supervision of policemen, where they were seized, and the stolen amount was seized, and during the investigations the defendants confessed to carrying out several thefts within several countries they visited.

Registration in «Housing Security»

The Deputy Director of the General Department of Investigations and Criminal Investigations for Search and Investigation Affairs at Dubai Police, Brigadier Mohammed Aqeel Ahli, said that «housing security» is a preventive service to protect homes while their owners travel. He called on villa owners to install surveillance cameras to further enhance security and safety, and not to employ violating labor, or bring in violating maintenance workers or any unlicensed companies, or unlicensed farmers, or violators of nationality and residence laws, which increases the chances of homes being stolen, explaining that most of the recorded theft reports were caused by these violations.

Bank Customers Warning

The Director of the General Department of Investigations and Criminal Investigations at Dubai Police, Major General Jamal Salem Al Jallaf, stressed the importance of not carrying large sums of money while leaving banks, and using the cars of money transfer companies if the amounts are large, and beware of trying to distract them, as the gang did by piercing the tire of the bank customer's car.

He called on members of the community to contribute to enhancing security and reducing crime by reporting illegal abuses through the "Police Eye" service, which is provided by Dubai Police on its smart application, or by calling the call center 901 or the emergency number 999.