Police foil plot to smuggle stolen metal out of UAE

Police say they have foiled a plot to smuggle more than 18 tonnes of stolen copper and aluminium out of the country.

SHARJAH // Police said they foiled a plot to smuggle more than 18 tonnes of stolen copper and aluminium out of the country. Eighteen men were arrested, said Brig Yousef Musa al Naqbi, director of the Sharjah Police Criminal Investigations Department. Seventeen of the men are from Pakistan and the other is from India. "The group confessed to most of the thefts - cables, wires, electronics and air conditioners - that had been reported to Sharjah Police from warehouses, especially in industrial area," Brig al Naqbi said.

"The group had also stolen a number of small vehicles and trucks." Brig al Naqbi said police had been following the group. At first, he said, they arrested six men, who then turned in the others. When the police arrived where the suspects were staying in the Moelh residential area in Sharjah, he said, the men resisted "but our trained officers overpowered them". The gang led police to where they kept their stolen materials in Al Sajja industrial area, Brig al Naqbi said.

Five containers loaded with stolen cables and aluminium were seized. Police said the men had planned to move the stolen metals out of the country by ship. The destination was not disclosed. The case was referred to Sharjah Public Prosecution. [e-mail]