Sharjah Police used DNA tests to identify duo in exchange house heist
APART FROM WORK IN DRUG CASES, SHARJAH POLICE LAB HAS SOLVED 164 CRIMES WITH THE HELP OF DNA IMPRINTS
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Two of the five Africans arrested in connection with the Dh2 million heist at an exchange house in March this year were identified thanks to DNA matches established by the Sharjah Police Forensic Laboratory, top officials said yesterday.
Speaking to the press on a tour of the lab, Brigadier Ahmad Al Serkal, Director-General of the Sharjah Police Forensic Laboratory, said the case was among the 164 crimes solved by the laboratory by finding matches from 6,412 DNA imprints in its database,
On March 20 this year, five armed African men in their 20s stole currency worth over Dh2 million during a seven-minute heist, at an Al Ansari Exchange branch, close to midnight. The gang members subsequently spread themselves out in other emirates in a bid to escape notice. But a special police team traced their whereabouts, arrested one of them within 48 hours and managed to catch up with the others at their hideouts in Sharjah, Ajman, Ras Al Khaimah and Abu Dhabi soon after.
Building DNA database
Two of the gang members were identified with the help of DNA tests conducted on samples collected from the crime scene. Brigadier Ahmad Al Serkal said the lab is working on further building the DNA database with information on detainees and criminals.
He said in cases of murder and rape, DNA tests help the police to identify suspects. The DNA tests have also offered proof of family kinship during
■ parental and inheritance disputes referred by the courts.
“Many international experts have used the laboratory’s DNA results and findings for investigations,” he said, adding that a joint cooperation between the Forensic Laboratory and the University of Ljubljana in Slovenia had helped examine sample DNAs of 67 human remains from the time of the Second
World War. He said the lab housed an advanced mitochondria DNA testing system — considered the most accurate and sophisticated in the field.
Illegal substances detected
Hashish wraps in a box of cheese, gold concealed in a capsule, crystal meth in a bag of sesame seeds — these are some of the smuggled substances that samples tested by Sharjah Police lab in the past year
Sharjah Police have unearthed in the past one year, thanks to its expertise at the Sharjah Police Forensic Laboratory.
Brigadier Ahmad Al Serkal said it had helped solve 15,513 cases in 2019, compared to 13,054 cases in 2018, with 47,552 samples being tested to detect illegal substances, chemicals, toxins and weapons, besides identifying finger prints, fraud and forgery.
He said, “The forensic department has played a crucial role in solving a huge number of crimes in the emirate of Sharjah and the neighbouring emirate.”
Smuggling bids
A man carrying a capsule was arrested at the airport recently, Al Serkal said, after forensic experts detected a mismatch between the small size of the capsule and its heavy weight. The man, it turned out, had managed to pack 240 grams of gold inside.
The capsule, in the form of an organic paste, was exposed to a flame following which it evaporated, leaving the pure 24 carat gold behind.
Similarly, authorities were able to seize 526.8 grams of methamphetamine after sifting through a bag containing sesame seeds.