Thieves steal Dh75,000 gold rings

SHARJAH // Police are hunting two men who raided a jewellers in Sharjah and escaped with gold rings worth Dh75,000.

The thieves walked into Al Masoum Jewellery in the Rolla area at about 10.30pm on Saturday and posed as potential buyers.

One of the two shop assistants, Abdul Qader Ali Purath, 32, was preparing to close up for the night.

"As we were showing them the gold, they asked to choose items themselves," he said. "One of them picked up the whole display box with 63 gold rings and ran outside." The two shop assistants chased after the thieves into the crowded street outside.

The other assistant, Mohammed Qaisser, 37, said: "I jumped over my counter and asked my colleague to ring the alarm for police. When I got outside the shop, I couldn't find anyone."

Police arrived about 10 minutes after the raid and questioned the two assistants. They also removed security camera footage for investigation, Mr Qaisser said.

Mr Purath said this was the second such theft in two years. The previous incident was also captured on security cameras, and Mr Purath has copies of photos taken from the cameras. They show two men wearing Pakistani dress negotiating with a salesman and leaving with a box of gold in their hands.

"Unfortunately, neither of the men was arrested despite their pictures being clearly seen," Mr Purath said. "We lost about Dh35,000 in the first theft. We don't know why there are so many thefts in Rolla, why we are not safe like other places."

Rolla has several gold outlets, and after this incident a number of owners said they would like police to step up security in the busy trading area.

"Jewellery like gold and diamonds needs extra security," said Rajesh, a salesman at Malabari Gold, opposite Al Masoum Jewellery. "Security cameras and alarms linked to the police operations room are themselves not enough. We need a big police presence in the area, or a police station in the neighbourhood."

ykakande@thenational.ae