Dubai: Dubai Police arrested 6,840 people between January and August this year who were wanted locally and had a total of 8,700 arrest warrants issued against them.
Most of the wanted people were incriminated in money-related crimes, such as bounced cheques and breach of trust cases, and some were involved in serious criminal cases.
Major General Khalil Ebrahim Al Mansouri, Assistant to the Dubai Police Chief for Criminal Investigation Affairs, said that those wanted people owed more than Dh1.79 billion.
Under the instructions of Major General Khamis Mattar Al Mazeina, Dubai Police Chief, a new system to catch wanted people locally was created.
Three teams of officers who work with the Department of Wanted Persons of Dubai Police were stationed at three different police stations and will stay there for three months. After they achieve their objectives, thet will be stationed at three other stations.
The teams, which were formed three weeks ago, are currently working out of Al Muraqqabat, Al Ghusais and Al Rashidiya police stations.
Al Mansouri said that the teams have yielded good results since they started and have arrested a significant number of wanted people.
People arrested include a European man who owed Dh145 million as well as an Asian man who had 61 arrest warrants issued against him.
The Asian man, Al Mansouri said, required a great deal of effort by Dubai Police to arrest as he kept change his place location multiple times. He was finally caught as he was trying to illegally leave the country.
Another Asian man had 49 arrest warrants against him.
Al Mansouri said that there was an Arab man who had evaded the police for a long time until he was finally caught.
“The man would disappear as soon as we would determine his whereabouts. He would move from one emirate to the other. We allocated a team of 25-30 officers just to track him down. After 51 days of tracking, he was finally caught.”
International cooperation
The first eight months of this year also saw Dubai Police arrest 130 people who were wanted internationally for various crimes, said Colonel Salim Al Rumaithi, Deputy Director of Criminal Investigation Affairs.
Out of the 130 people – who are from various nationalities — 29 have already been processed and sent back to the countries in which they were wanted.
He said the rest are in custody and will be sent as soon as their paperwork is finalised.
Dubai Police have also secured 26 wanted persons caught abroad by the authorities of different countries and sent back to Dubai where they are wanted for legal procedures.
Among the 26 wanted suspects was an Arab man who was wanted for 70 different criminal cases.
The man was arrested in an Asian country and sent back to the UAE.
Al Rumaithi said that the UAE has very good relations with many countries, especially in Europe and Asia, which enable both parties to get to the wanted persons.
“Any criminal, even if he manages to escape the country, will eventually get caught, as we follow up on all the people who have arrest warrants against them, even if they were issued years ago,” Al Rumaithi said.
Al Rumaithi urged the public to call 800-CID (800-243) if they suspect any criminal activity. The 800-CID hotline has received 6,647 calls since the beginning of the year.
