Shoplifting gangs targeted high-end fashion shops

The suspects, five Arab women and an Arab man, targeted at least 10 stores and stole bags, shoes, accessories, perfumes and clothes.

DUBAI // Dubai Police arrested four gangs last month that between them allegedly stole more than Dh400,000 in cash and valuables.

Most prominent among them was a gang called the Fashionable Thieves, suspected of stealing from high-end fashion stores in Dubai Mall and Mall of the Emirates.

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According to Lt Col Ahmed al Merri, the director of criminal investigations at Dubai Police, at least eight reports were filed concerning the forays of the six-person gang, arrested on May 8.

The suspects, five Arab women and an Arab man, targeted at least 10 stores at the malls and stole bags, shoes, accessories, perfumes and clothes, Lt Col al Merri said.

"The gang's modus operandi was to enter shops with a small number of staff and keep them occupied while the rest of them picked up the items and hid them underneath their abayas," he said. The gang were caught red-handed at Dubai Mall, Lt Col al Merri said. "When we audited all the stolen items and contacted the various stores, some of them did not even realise that they lost the items," he said.

The other gangs, Lt Col al Merri said, targeted bank customers. "Member of the three gangs were all from the same nationality and were African Arabs," he noted.

The gangs were arrested within 10 days. The first gang, with four members, robbed an Asian man who had withdrawn Dh100,000. The second gang, with two members, followed a European customer who withdrew Dh140,000. The third gang, a two-person operation, stole Dh98,000 from an Asian bank customer.