Dh1m jewel thieves had smelter in their hideout

Eastern European and Pakistani gangs targeted luxury homes in similar but separate ploys.

ABU DHABI // Two gangs stole more than Dh1 million of jewellery in raids targeting high-earning families in luxury homes.

One of the gangs used a small smelter in their hideout to convert the stolen jewellery into gold bars that were easier to dispose of.

The thieves operated by knocking on an apartment door, gaining entry by pretending to be maintenance workers and checking out a family's valuables while inside.

They then broke in while the family was out and stole gold jewellery, precious stones and expensive watches, "going for the lighter, more valuable stuff", Brig Gen Maktoum Al Sharifi, chief of Abu Dhabi Capital Police, said yesterday.

Nine people have been arrested over the thefts, and referred to public prosecution. All the stolen property has been recovered.

The two gangs - one consisting of six Georgians and a Filipino, the other of two Pakistanis - did not work together but operated in a similar fashion, Gen Al Sharifi said.

Members of the first gang, referred to as the Eastern European gang, came to the UAE on a visit visa, Gen Al Sharifi said.

"They would knock on an apartment's door, pretending to be maintenance workers out to conduct routine maintenance work," he said.

"When they get in, their trained eyes surveyed the apartment's valuables and, when they were sure it was a high-earning family's home, they watched them to determine the times when they're usually away. They soon break the locks and start bagging gold jewellery, going for the lighter, more valuable stuff."

Investigations led to a group of men who were kept under police watch until their "suspicious behaviour" justified a raid, Gen Al Sharifi said.

The gang hid their loot in a hotel apartment in Dubai. "In their hideout, they had a small smelter that they used to turn gold jewellery into small bars to alter the original form of the jewellery and make it easier to sell and smuggle out of the country," Gen Al Sharifi said.

The second gang, a driver and an illegal resident from Pakistan, operated in a manner "very similar" to the first in the execution of the robberies, Gen Al Sharifi said.

"Upon his arrest, the driver revealed the place where the illegal resident had hidden the loot, which was kept inside locked suitcases stored in a room in Al Khatim area of Abu Dhabi," he said.

"The stolen items consisted of valuable watches, jewellery, precious stones and electronic gadgets."