Dubai Police arrest E. European diamond robbers

Dubai, December 24, 2014 (WAM): Dubai Police have arrested members of an Eastern European ring who had seized diamonds and gold jewels worth Dh 12 million in Dubai in a sting operation codenamed 'The Prince,' Major General Khamis Matar Al Mazeina, Dubai Police General Commander, revealed yesterday. He told a press conference that the heist, plotted jointly by the ring members in Dubai and the French capital Paris, took place on 12 December but within 72 hours, police were able to catch the robbers on 15 December. Giving details of the robbery, Al Mazeina said that the Naif Police Station had received information from a vendor, BS, at a jewellery shop in Dubai stating that a European person, who introduced himself as Christopher, and another man, FK, came to the shop wearing precious diamonds and gold laced rings and watch, and told him that he had been sent by the company's Arab owner in Paris. The Police Chief said that the vendor allowed the two robbers to view some jewels after he contacted the company owner in Paris and took his permission. On the following visit, he explained, the two robbers packed 6.5kg of gold and diamond jewels, worth Dh 12 million, in a diplomatic suitcase after the vendor received a call from the owner to hand over the package to them. According to the deal, the owner was to receive the payment in Paris but the deal collapsed and the robbers vanished with the loot. Police investigators found that the other members of the ring in Paris forced the company owner at gun point to convey the orders by phone to the vendor to hand over the jewels to the two robbers. The company owner was released after his captors were assured by accomplices in Dubai of the delivery of the suitcase to a third member of the ring, MK, but he immediately called the vendor to alert the police about the plot. After intensive research and investigation, the police managed to arrest the robbers within just 72 hours and recovered the stolen items. – Emirates News Agency, WAM - http://www.wam.ae/en/news/emirates/1395274242507.html