Khaleej Times, United Arab Emirates
July 6 2005
City cops crack jewellery heist; gang of 4 held
By a staff reporter
6 July 2005
DUBAI – A well-planned and professionally executed jewellery heist by
a gang of four went sour when the Dubai Police cracked the case and
arrested all of them.
The gang, comprising three Armenians and a Russian, committed the
robbery on Friday, and had planned to flee the country after shipping
the stolen goods in a second-hand car they had bought to carry out
the Dh2.4 million operation, Brigadier Khamis Mattar Al Muzainah,
Director of the General Department of Criminal Investigation, said
yesterday.
Giving details of the modus operandi of the gang, he said the four
broke into the shop at Al Maktoum road through an unshuttered window
on the upper floor on Friday, when the establishment was closed for
the weekend. The gang believed that since the theft would not be
discovered till Saturday, they would have sufficient time to flee the
country with the booty of jewellery, sun glasses and watches of
reputed international brands. They broke open a steel chest but did
not find any cash in it.
After committing the theft, the gang put into action part two of
their plan, buying electrical equipment and car spare parts to use
the cartons to stash away the booty with the hope that this would
hoodwink the authorities at the port since they had genuine receipts
for the goods purchased. They had even gone through the paper work to
ship the car out of the country. The gang intended to substitute the
goods in the cartons with the booty subsequently.
As the gang had expected, the crime was discovered only on Saturday
and reported to the police at around 9am. Police investigations
revealed that the heist was carried out by a professional gang, and
that the shop must have been cased earlier.
In all, 243 watches, 180 sun glasses and a whole lot of jewellery was
stolen, which was totally valued at Dh2.1 million.
`Immediately, a team of policemen who had specialised in this kind of
robbery was formed to investigate the case, and within 24 hours, the
team could identify the gang. They were identified as Moshoja
Markosiam, Artak Ablian, Vijein Fakhtanj and David Robert. It was
found out that they were on a visit visa and were residing in a
resort in a neighbouring emirate and using a rented car,’ Brig Khamis
said.
Once the police were sure of their investigations, they moved in,
with the cooperation of the police force in the neighbouring emirate,
and arrested the gang of four from the resort.
Dubai police stopped the shipment and the car was brought to the
department and searched. The steel chest was hidden in one of the
cartons with the stolen goods in it.
Lt-Col Ibrahim Khaleel, Director of the Criminal Investigation
Department said the gang initially denied the crime, but subsequently
confessed when confronted with evidences.
What is intriguing is that their passports indicate that this was
their first visit to the country, and the police believe that they
could not have carried out such a professional job without doing a
proper recce of the shop, which couldn’t have been done in just two
days. The authorities have sought further information from the gang
members’ countries, and are quite sure that this would help in
unravelling this mystery.
The four will now be handed over to the Public Prosecution for
further action.