INTERPOL alert leads to arrest of India diamond theft suspects in Dubai

25 August 2010

LYON, France – Four people suspected of stealing diamonds worth nearly 1.5 million dollars in India have been arrested in Dubai within 24-hours of an INTERPOL alert being issued at the request of police authorities in India.

Mumbai Police alerted INTERPOL immediately after the disappearance of the gems on Monday, and provided the world police body’s Command and Co-ordination Centre at its General Secretariat headquarters in Lyon with key information on the suspects’ identities and likely itinerary.

As a result, close collaboration between INTERPOL’s National Central Bureaus in New Delhi and Abu Dhabi as part of an alert issued by INTERPOL resulted in three men and one woman being taken into custody immediately after landing at Dubai airport on Tuesday and the recovery of the stolen goods.

“These arrests are a perfect example of what we mean by international police co-operation,” said INTERPOL’s Executive Director of Police Services, Jean-Michel Louboutin.

“Mumbai’s Deputy Commissioner of Police’s decision to request INTERPOL’s assistance at the outset of their enquiries, combined with the swift and professional actions taken by our National Central Bureaus in New Delhi and Abu Dhabi, the Dubai police and our Command and Co-ordination Centre were key in this impressive result.”

The four suspects, who were travelling on Mexican and Venezuelan passports remain in custody in Dubai pending extradition to India.

INTERPOL’s National Central Bureaus in Mexico and Caracas have also been requested to verify the identities of the four individuals and the documents they were using in order to establish if they are known or wanted for any other offences.