DUBAI (AFP)
Masked gunmen ransack jewellery store at Wafi shopping centre

A gang of machinegun-wielding thieves robbed a major shopping mall jewellery store in a rare attack in the relatively safe Gulf emirate of Dubai, the local Press reported yesterday.
An unidentified number of robbers used a car to ram through one of the main glass gates of Wafi City mall, then drove down the wide aisles of the shopping centre to the jewellery shop on Sunday night, Al-Emarat Al-Yom said.
A second getaway car followed and helped the thieves escape after they ransacked the store within the space of two minutes, it added.
“The operation was well plotted by a specialised gang,” the daily quoted Dubai police as saying.
The robbers fired several gunshots, shattering the shop windows, the English daily 7Days quoted witnesses as saying after what appeared to be the first attack of its kind in the United Arab Emirates in recent years.
The two cars were later found abandoned near the mall, and the raiders were still at large having stolen a large amount of jewellery, the newspapers added.
No casualties were reported.
Both the cars used in the heist  were stolen; one had a Dubai registration plate while the other was registered in Abu Dhabi, Lieutenant General Dahi Khalfan Tamim, Dubai Police Chief said
No estimate has been made on the losses, but Lt Gen Dahi said the robbers emptied the front display of the store. He also said the criminals were unlikely to be of Arab origin. Witnesses said the assailants were masked and armed.
Investigators at the scene said: "They were professionals ... They drove towards Zabeel where they burnt the cars." Sally Meech, Public Relations Manager of Wafi City, said that one of the cars broke through the front gate of the mall.

Last update on: 17-4-2007