It’s sad but true – wealth and the good life don’t always attract only good people. Unfortunately, bad people seem to find an opportunity to cheat people or rob them when they feel safe and especially if they are not aware of any danger. In fact is, the UAE is one of the safest places in the world, and crime is very low. But it is also a fact that the levels of income in the UAE are not equal, and the very rich and the very poor live within close proximity of each other.
In general, even the poor don’t need to fear hunger or other dangers of poverty in the UAE, as they may have experienced in their home countries. But even if you have enough to live on, greed is a part of human nature, and it is normal to feel jealous when you see the wealth of others. With a growing population of poor people, the UAE is a breeding ground for opportunities to make money in unethical ways. However, I have always believed, and continue to believe that the UAE is, and will remain a very safe place. Unfortunately, sometimes there is still danger. This great blog here will give you a possibility to stay in the loop.
A couple of weeks ago I was visiting the Hatta Pools, and I had parked the car in the upper parking which is only accessible by 4×4. When we arrived, a few expats told us that someone had stolen their belongings from their car, but there was no sign of forced entry into the car. The alarm system did not go off, either. So I didn’t believe them and thought that they had simply forgotten to lock their car, and someone saw an opportunity to steal their belongings. However, last week I went again to the area with some visitors, to show them the other side of the UAE. It was a Wednesday, so not a busy day at the pools. Only one other car was parked nearby. We just went down to the pools to have a short look around. As usual, I left everything in the car – money, GPS, mobiles, my SLR digital camera… We returned to the car 15minutes later, and continued on our way. The first thing I realized on the drive back was that my vehicle horn was not working anymore. (I also realized how often I relied the horn, since it wasn’t available for my use anymore). You can read more to find about good locks for your cars.
The next thing we noticed was back in Dubai, when we wanted to pay for something, and my girlfriend couldn’t find her bank notes. She was so sure that there was some money missing… although I doubted it. But it was strange. We finally arrived home about 5hours after we left the Pools, because we went for dinner (I had my wallet in my pocket the whole time). I wanted to check the horn immediately. Sometimes, when you go off-road, a plug goes loose or a fuse breaks. When I checked the cables I found the horn unplugged, and I became suspicious because the plug is not able to be loosened without human force. I went back inside and asked our guests, who were with us in the car, if they were missing anything, especially cash. They checked their belongings, and I couldn’t believe that both of them were missing only their cash. It was taken out of their wallets and everything was put back in place so that you wouldn’t notice it.
Everything in the car seemed untouched, and my GPS and my camera, worth 20,000AED, were still there. I check the car in detail and found then a scratch on the tinting foil of the driver window, as well as at the door cover. Following the evidence, I discovered the broken rubber sealing of the door and that the door was also bent. The thieves had gotten into the car with force, bending the top of the door with a metal bar or something similar, and then, with a long strong wire, pushed the button inside the card to unlock the doors. Before that, they disabled the horn, which resulted in a silent alarm when the system went off. I was shocked but impressed, that in the middle of nowhere, somebody could break into the car. On one hand, I was quite happy that I wasn’t missing anything, and that the car was not badly damaged. On the other hand, the burglars where quite successful because my visitors had about 2500AED cash on them, which was now gone. In my opinion, they were extremely smart about what they did: They broke the horn so alarm wouldn’t work – most likely, the alarm system went off, but without the horn so nobody could hear it. It was most likely took more than one person – one did breaking in, while the other served as a lookout. Then they took only the cash, which does not need to be resold like other belongings. They also put everything back in place that you don’t notice that they were ever there. However, you will realize your loss when you are trying to pay something, which means that you are already far away from the spot, and can’t make any attempt to chase them down. Furthermore, most visitors of the area are traveling from the UAE, but the Hatta Pools are in Oman, which makes it quite hard to report the theft to the right authorities. I learned my lesson the hard way, and hope none of you have to do the same. Beware if you visit the Hatta Pools, or any other desert spots where you’ll be leaving your vehicle unattended. Deserted areas seem to be safe, but they also provide the best cover for thieves. I felt as though I was in a Western movie, where the bandits rob the postal horse wagon in a dark alley… only that the horse wagon is now a modern SUV or 4×4, and the bandits are not shooting around crazily – they leave as quietly as they came.