Sharjah Police have arrested two African men for allegedly robbing bank customers coming out after withdrawing money.
The suspects allegedly spit on victims and made off with money as their targets were busy cleaning, police said on Thursday.
Colonel Ebrahim Al Ajel, Director of the Criminal and Investigation Department of Sharjah Police, said they received complaints from several bank customers that some persons spit on them as they came out of the banks. The suspect would apologise to the victim and pretend to help the person in cleaning. As the victim is busy cleaning himself, he would be robbed.
“Spitting on bank customers and stealing their money is a new ploy being employed by thieves in Sharjah. The whole operation takes only a few minutes as the victim would be busy cleaning himself,” Colonel Al Ajel said.
Police identified the suspects and their whereabouts and arrested them. The suspects told police that they used this method as it was easy and they could took advantage of the negligence of bank customers.
The case was referred to the public prosecution.
Col. Al Ajel urged the community members not to hesitate to inform the police if any suspicious activity is detected while they are in banks, near an ATM, or when they feel that someone is following them.
The Sharjah Police have launched an awareness campaign for the safety of bank customers and educate them on the security measures to adopt when they withdraw cash either from banks or ATMs.
The campaign has been launched in response to some incidents involving bank clients being robbed outside banks. Unfortunately, bank customers do not adopt safety measures as some gangs are using the same methods and tricks to rob customers despite the fact that the police have highlighted them time and again.
Police will provide instructions and guidelines in different languages through various information channels to reveal the fraudulent methods adopted by some criminals to steal money from bank customers.
