Three boys detained for theft spree

ABU DHABI // Three boys have been detained in connection with a series of robberies from houses, shops, taxi drivers, donation boxes and mosques.

Col Maktoum al Sharifi, head of capital police, said they received 21 calls reporting the thefts, which occurred in different areas in the capital. After police conducted their investigations, the three boys - all Emiratis aged between 14 and 17 - were caught and confessed.

Col al Sharifi said juvenile crimes have increased lately, and many of them are carried out during late night hours.

"Parents should watch over their children and monitor their schedule and how much money they have," he said.

Police say their strategy to combat these crimes involves communicating with the youth through school visits in order to bridge the gap between young people and the police. However, they stressed these issues cannot be resolved without the public's cooperation.

There were 138 juvenile cases registered since the beginning of the year and 188 cases during the same period in 2009.

According to Col al Sharifi, motives behind such cases could be peer pressure, since young people like to copy their friends and do not like to be left out.

"Some stolen items are just given as gifts to friends. So parents need to check the source of these gifts."

hdajani@thenational.ae