December 12, 2003

KM Exclusive

Three Member Gang Loots Mustafa Sultan Exchange Company

A three member Arab gang looted the Seeb branch of Mustafa Sultan Exchange Company yesterday during the normal morning business hours and escaped with an undisclosed amount of money. According to sources, the three member gang entered the Seeb branch of Mustafa Sultan Exchange Company located in the market place, pretending as ladies by wearing woman's clothes like Parudha (Muslim woman's face cover) and extorted huge amount of money by threatening the Omani lady cashier who was working in the counter. It is assessed that more than RO 30,000 is robbed. The Seeb branch was working with three Omani ladies staff and an Indian. Like a cinematic crime scene, the robbers shouted in Arabic and convinced the ladies that they were carrying a genuine loaded rifle and not a fake revolver.

"One of the culprits entered the premises wearing woman's dress and showed a revolver/rifle to the lady in the cash counter and ordered her to fill the bag with cash. Two customers inside the exchange house were threatened and asked to sit on the sidelines. The operation went on smartly and the gang escaped with the booty within short notice. This is the first time in the recent history of the exchange house that such a day light robbery is taking place, said sources. The Royal Oman Police is investigating the case and it is expected that as in previous cases, the culprits may be nabbed soon. The branch resumed operations yesterday evening itself.

The ROP has been very efficient in locate criminals - the investigation team could nab the culprits involved in robbing the Maweala branch of Oman Arab bank a few months back. Similarly, last week it thwarted the attempted looting of Bank Dhofar Al Omani Al Franis Al Amret branch. The recent looting of a money exchange happened when a gang attacked a vehicle carrying huge amount of cash belonging to the Oman UAE Exchange Company.

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