Quick-thinking housewife foils Dh680,000 Dubai robbery

The woman - who was waiting in her car for her husband - grew suspicious of two men loitering in front of a bank in Naif and alerted Dubai Police.

DUBAI // Two thieves who tried to steal Dh680,000 from a businessman were foiled by a quick-thinking housewife.

The woman - who was waiting in her car for her husband - grew suspicious after noticing the men loitering in front of a bank in Naif on September 19, and kept a watch on them.

As one of them moved in between cars parked nearby she noticed the other signalling to him and pointing at a luxury vehicle.

Fearing something was amiss, the housewife called the police and two patrols were dispatched to monitor the men. One of them then slashed the tyres of the expensive vehicle, according to Lt Col Ahmed Al Merri of Dubai CID.

A few minutes later, its owner, a businessman, left the bank with Dh680,000 in an envelope, got into his car and drove off - followed by the two men in a rental car and undercover police officers.

The businessman stopped in Al Maktoum Street due to his flat tyre and his pursuers stopped about 200 metres in front of him.

When he got out of his car, the pair ran up and tried to grab the money. The officers managed to stop them, despite fierce resistance.

"One of the men tried to throw red-pepper powder on the four policemen," said Lt Col Al Merri.

He paid tribute to the observational skills of the woman, who wished to remain anonymous.

"We could not have arrested the pair if the housewife was not so vigilant and decided to act on what she saw," Lt Col Al Merri added.

Two men - AB and KHS, from Ethiopia, both in their mid-thirties - have been referred to the public prosecution.