Dubai Police solve murder by looking into victim’s bones
The Dubai Police have recently solved a murder mystery, with the help of high-tech tools that linked some knives to the homicide — even if no clear fingerprints were found.
The authorities found the weapons buried in a remote area in Dubai, far from the desert where the victim’s remains were discovered.
“(When we received a report about a corpse spotted in the desert) a specialised team was immediately dispatched to the site, but they were unable to find the murder weapon anywhere near the scene,” said Lt Eng Mohammad Al Shamsi, head of firearms and tool marks section at the Dubai Police.
A thorough investigation led to the arrest of six suspects, who reportedly attacked the victim with knives over a dispute. “The suspects had intentionally buried the crime tools in a different remote area to mislead detectives,” Al Shamsi said.
When the knives were discovered, it was impossible to lift fingerprints from them due to natural erosion and humidity. “At first, we couldn’t link the crime tools to the suspects nor the case. Therefore, the evidence was handed over to Dubai Police’s forensic analysts,” he said. The experts managed to collect tool mark prints from the victim’s wounds and bones and compared them with the knives. “The Dubai specialists were able to link them to the murder and provide concrete evidence that could stand in court,” Al Shamsi said.
Major-general Dr Ahmad Eid Al Mansouri, director of the General Department of Forensics and Criminology at the Dubai Police, hailed the team’s efforts. “The successful application of microCT tool mark analysis reflects, once again, the Dubai Police’s keenness on utilising the latest technologies in policing work.”