DUBAI // A man told a gang of robbers to beat him up in a bid to prevent police from discovering he was actually the instigator of a Dh5million theft from his employers, Dubai CID revealed yesterday.
The man, thought to be part of an organised Asian gang, had worked for the unnamed company for almost three years. A month ago he devised a plot to ambush a fellow employee as he left an exchange centre with the company's money.
On August 22 he drove his fellow employee to the exchange house behind a hotel in Deira to receive a money transfer. Minutes later, as they walked to his vehicle, they were stopped by four men who jumped out of two cars.
After the employee was knocked unconscious the other man gave the money to his accomplices and asked them to beat him up so he would not be suspected of involvement, police said.
Colonel Nassir Abdul Rasaq Al Razzuqi, the deputy director of the General Department of Criminal Investigation, said the driver claimed to have fainted following the attack to explain why he took two hours to report the crime. Instead, the gap was designed to give his accomplices time to escape.
Two of the gang members wired the stolen money through various exchange houses while the other two fled the country through Dubai International Airport.
After the driver was taken to hospital, doctors determined his beating was not severe enough for him to have fainted, which made police suspicious.
"Two of the gang members beat up the driver to eliminate any suspicion," said Col Al Razzuqi.
Sixty CID officers, headed by the department's director Brigadier Khalil Ibrahim Al Mansouri, tracked down two of the gang.
Police have retrieved 85 per cent of the stolen money, but the remainder has been transferred through seven exchange centres.
Police said the other gang members had arrived in the country specifically to carry out his plan.
Colonel Al Razzuqi said police were still working on arresting the two escaped gang members.
