Dubai: Dubai Police have arrested a Chinese gang of six that specialised in stealing jewellery and valuables worth millions from homes whose tenants were away.
Maj Gen Khamis Mattar Al Mazeina, Dubai Police Chief, said that after they recently arrested two Latin gangs who had a similar modus operandi, they noticed that there were still some theft reports that were similar but not linked to the two gangs.
This led the Criminal Investigation Department of Dubai Police to create a specialised team to investigate those thefts.
He said the team analysed the criminal methods of similar crimes across the UAE. There were 70 such reports — 17 in Abu Dhabi, 12 in Sharjah, seven in Ajman, six in Umm Al Quwain, 10 in Ras Al Khaimah, and six in Fujairah.
“Investigations led us to believe that the gang responsible is Chinese and so we intensified patrols in areas where many of the thefts were reported, and two men raised our suspicions as they were roaming around in the area,” he said.
The two men were arrested, and when police searched a bag that was with them, they found metal cutters and tools used for breaking into houses as well as gloves.
The two men were identified as Jitang Wai and Zhuhang Jan, the police said.
Further investigation showed that the two were involved in multiple villa thefts and that they worked with another two Chinese men, Yuan Tin and Jinchiang Ma, who were arrested later on Al Maktoum Street.
Tin and Ma confessed to helping Wai and Jan locate the targeted homes and driving them back to their home in International City using their own car.
Maj Gen Khalil Ebrahim Al Mansouri, Assistant to the Dubai Police Chief for Criminal Investigation Affairs, said that police raided an apartment in International City and arrested another two Chinese — Ming Xio Xu and Jiajhang Wai.
He said that the team found some of the stolen items as well as maps for upscale areas in the UAE, which they used to plan their crimes.
He added that the gang confessed to their crimes in Dubai and other emirates.
They also led the police to a sandy area in Al Warsan near Dragon Mart, where they hid some of the jewellery and to another location on Shaikh Mohammad Bin Zayed Road near Al Maktoum Airport.
All the six members of the gang were transferred to the public prosecution.
