7 accused of robbing Dh660,000 from a firm posing as cops

DUBAI — Two Emiratis and five Asians (three Indians and two Pakistanis) allegedly robbed Dh659,990 from a general trading company in Naif after claiming to the staff that they were CID officers, the Court of First Instance was told on Tuesday.

The two Emiratis — a 32-yearold employee and a runaway — and the other men entered the company, located in a flat, posing as cops and screaming they were inspecting the company, alleging that it ‘was doing illegal business’.

“We were on duty at 12.45pm when they rang the door bell. They said they were CIDs. One of them disconnected the cameras,” a 23-year-old Indian employee at the company said. He added that they were asked to give their phones and then to line up.

“They pushed my colleague as he did not hurry up to open the offices for them. They entered all the offices and took all the cash they could find. They took more than Dh650,000 from a safe. One of them was talking on a walkie-talkie”.

They also took money from the accounting room, which the witness could not tell how much exactly. “The Emirati accused asked about the Pakistani owner’s name, his address and phone number. He said they wanted to arrest him.He asked us not to go out or call anyone, claiming the CIDs are surrounding the place. When the owner came shortly later, he told us we had just been robbed,” the employee added. The thieves also stole Dh6,800 and five mobile phones. They were charged with forced robbery and impersonation of police officers.

The police heard from some eyewitnesses that the accused left in a 4WD. “We checked the CCTV and found the car belonged to an Indian man who was out of the UAE,” a police sergeant said.

The sergeant added that the defendants were caught on the surveillance cameras coming to the building on the day before the crime at the same time. “We identified and tracked the first Emirati accused to the parking lot of a shopping centre.

He confessed to committing the robbery and revealed the names of other accomplices. We learnt the second defendant left the country.”

The other thieves were arrested at the same centre later and admitted they targeted the trading company because of the large amounts of cash they would find there. The sergeant said the accused admitted to the charges willingly.

All the accused split the money among them and the first accused collected Dh300,000. That sum and another Dh15,500 were seized from him. Rest of the money was recovered from the other accused.