DUBAI // Money exchange staff spoke of their terror yesterday when two masked men armed with a pistol stole Dh1 million in less than 30 seconds in an audacious daylight raid.
The men burst into the Motor City branch of Redha Al Ansari at about 2pm on Sunday and screamed at the employees to stand aside. One trained the pistol on staff while the other ransacked the office.
The robbers fled with all the cash from the exchange tills and a folder containing large sums in foreign currency.
“I was terrified. I’ve never been robbed or seen a gun before, and this man was pointing one at me and yelling but I couldn’t understand what he was saying,” a counter assistant said.
Within five minutes of the heist 243 police officers had been deployed to hunt down the robbers. Last night police were questioning two men in connection with the robbery.
Officers took less than two hours to identify an address in Bur Dubai where they believed the robbers were hiding.
“They were about to celebrate their victory – they did not know that they had been tracked,” said Lt Col Ahmed Al Merri of the criminal investigations department at Dubai Police.
He said the police waited for the men to step outside as “we were afraid of an armed confrontation”. The officers then arrested them and recovered the stolen money.
The two men being questioned are described as of Arab origin but from an unspecified European country, and aged from their mid-twenties to early thirties.
Lt Col Al Merri said one of the men works at a private company in Dubai and the other had recently arrived on a visit visa. He said the second man had a record for “similar crimes in Europe” and police suspected he had come to the UAE with the sole intent of carrying out the robbery.
A third man might also be involved, according to an eye witness. “I saw two masked men enter a silver saloon and the car sped off immediately, I think there was a driver waiting in the car,” said Nikhil Singh, area manager for Life pharmacy.
Mr Singh was on a routine visit to the branch next door to the exchange when he heard the alarm go off. “I wasn’t very concerned when I heard the alarm, it was only when I saw people running that I thought it might be a fire or something.”
As he got to the door of the pharmacy he saw the men entering the car. “They wore black cloth masks and dark clothes and were of average height and build. It all happened in a matter of seconds, the car was parked in the middle of the street and as soon as they got in, it made a U-turn at the lights and sped off towards Abu Dhabi.
“Until then I never thought that anything like this could happen here, Dubai is totally safe, this is very unusual.”
Many of the neighbouring shops did not realise a robbery was taking place, and ignored the alarm in the belief it was a fire drill.
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Al Jazira's foreign quartet for 2017/18
Romarinho, Brazil
Lassana Diarra, France
Sardor Rashidov, Uzbekistan
Mbark Boussoufa, Morocco
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MATCH INFO
Fixture: Ukraine v Portugal, Monday, 10.45pm (UAE)
TV: BeIN Sports
The specs
Engine: 4.0-litre V8 twin-turbocharged and three electric motors
Power: Combined output 920hp
Torque: 730Nm at 4,000-7,000rpm
Transmission: 8-speed dual-clutch automatic
Fuel consumption: 11.2L/100km
On sale: Now, deliveries expected later in 2025
Price: expected to start at Dh1,432,000
HIJRA
Starring: Lamar Faden, Khairiah Nathmy, Nawaf Al-Dhufairy
Director: Shahad Ameen
Rating: 3/5
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Engine: Electric motor generating 54.2kWh (Cooper SE and Aceman SE), 64.6kW (Countryman All4 SE)
Power: 218hp (Cooper and Aceman), 313hp (Countryman)
Torque: 330Nm (Cooper and Aceman), 494Nm (Countryman)
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh158,000 (Cooper), Dh168,000 (Aceman), Dh190,000 (Countryman)
Director: Laxman Utekar
Cast: Vicky Kaushal, Akshaye Khanna, Diana Penty, Vineet Kumar Singh, Rashmika Mandanna
Rating: 1/5
Jawan
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The specs
AT4 Ultimate, as tested
Engine: 6.2-litre V8
Power: 420hp
Torque: 623Nm
Transmission: 10-speed automatic
Price: From Dh330,800 (Elevation: Dh236,400; AT4: Dh286,800; Denali: Dh345,800)
On sale: Now
Jetour T1 specs
Engine: 2-litre turbocharged
Power: 254hp
Torque: 390Nm
Price: From Dh126,000
Available: Now
Cricket World Cup League Two
Teams
Oman, UAE, Namibia
Al Amerat, Muscat
Results
Oman beat UAE by five wickets
UAE beat Namibia by eight runs
Namibia beat Oman by 52 runs
UAE beat Namibia by eight wickets
Fixtures
Saturday January 11 - UAE v Oman
Sunday January 12 – Oman v Namibia
Tax authority targets shisha levy evasion
The Federal Tax Authority will track shisha imports with electronic markers to protect customers and ensure levies have been paid.
Khalid Ali Al Bustani, director of the tax authority, on Sunday said the move is to "prevent tax evasion and support the authority’s tax collection efforts".
The scheme’s first phase, which came into effect on 1st January, 2019, covers all types of imported and domestically produced and distributed cigarettes. As of May 1, importing any type of cigarettes without the digital marks will be prohibited.
He said the latest phase will see imported and locally produced shisha tobacco tracked by the final quarter of this year.
"The FTA also maintains ongoing communication with concerned companies, to help them adapt their systems to meet our requirements and coordinate between all parties involved," he said.
As with cigarettes, shisha was hit with a 100 per cent tax in October 2017, though manufacturers and cafes absorbed some of the costs to prevent prices doubling.
Nepotism is the name of the game
Salman Khan’s father, Salim Khan, is one of Bollywood’s most legendary screenwriters. Through his partnership with co-writer Javed Akhtar, Salim is credited with having paved the path for the Indian film industry’s blockbuster format in the 1970s. Something his son now rules the roost of. More importantly, the Salim-Javed duo also created the persona of the “angry young man” for Bollywood megastar Amitabh Bachchan in the 1970s, reflecting the angst of the average Indian. In choosing to be the ordinary man’s “hero” as opposed to a thespian in new Bollywood, Salman Khan remains tightly linked to his father’s oeuvre. Thanks dad.
Why seagrass matters
- Carbon sink: Seagrass sequesters carbon up to 35X faster than tropical rainforests
- Marine nursery: Crucial habitat for juvenile fish, crustations, and invertebrates
- Biodiversity: Support species like sea turtles, dugongs, and seabirds
- Coastal protection: Reduce erosion and improve water quality
Mumbai Indians 213/6 (20 ov)
Royal Challengers Bangalore 167/8 (20 ov)
Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
- Priority access to new homes from participating developers
- Discounts on sales price of off-plan units
- Flexible payment plans from developers
- Mortgages with better interest rates, faster approval times and reduced fees
- DLD registration fee can be paid through banks or credit cards at zero interest rates
Real estate tokenisation project
Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.
The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.
Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.
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Monday's results
- UAE beat Bahrain by 51 runs
- Qatar beat Maldives by 44 runs
- Saudi Arabia beat Kuwait by seven wickets
