A Result of Cooperation between UAE and California Police

ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates - Sunday, July 12th 2015 [ME NewsWire]

The Ministry of Interior (MoI) has put an end to the crimes of a Nigerian gang of three people operating out of an apartment in Ajman. The gang members had targeted their victims, both individuals and institutions, in the United States of America by hacking their accounts and emails to steal private documents and information to commit fraud.

The successful operation of overthrowing the gang is a result of the fruitful cooperation and close ties reinforced by the Ministry and various police agencies from advanced countries. Such a step has been made in a bid to entrench the efforts of peace and global security, and to protect the rights of citizens around the world. It works to enforce the law outside of the local context to serve the international community on one hand, and on the other, to effectively instill confidence and trust in the reputation and competency of the UAE and its various agencies.

In a statement, the MoI explained that it had received information from the security authorities in the US state of California in regards to cyber-criminal activity based in the UAE. The information did not include the identities of the hackers, nor the place of residence; hence a professional team was established in order to follow-up on the cyber data available and to gain access to the gang as soon as possible in order to keep them from escaping. The professional team consisted of members from the Abu Dhabi, Dubai, and Ajman police forces.

The statement also indicated that the joint security cooperation between the UAE police leadership led to identifying the location of the gang in record time, which was subsequently raided after completing the necessary legal procedures. The raid resulted in the arrest of B.A, age 24, the mastermind of the gang; G.A, age 26, a partner in the gang; and A.A., age 26, who entered the UAE on a tourist visa.

The statement added that the police teams monitored the movements of the suspects until they were all confirmed to be in the location. They were apprehended along with the tools of the crime including electronic devices; financial remittance documents; hacking software; bank accounts; and a list of more than 5 million electronic bank accounts targeted by the gang.

The MoI confirmed its keenness to assert its careful presence in the global scene of safety and security, including the unique competencies and experiences that have been established through decades of dealing with international cultures and people. The MoI also pointed that the respect for the law and safeguarding the rights and protection of every individual is a fundamental value of the approach in police work. It stated that the values of the police are not confined by borders.

It is worth mentioning that Article (4) of the Federal Decree-Law No. (5) of 2012 of the UAE’s law in combating cybercrimes states: He shall be punished by temporary imprisonment and a fine not less than two hundred and fifty thousand dirhams and not in excess of one million five hundred thousand dirhams whoever accesses a website, electronic information system, computer network, or information technology means without authorization whether such access is intended to obtain government data, or confidential information relating to a financial, commercial or economical facility. The punishment shall be imprisonment for a period of at least five years and a fine not less than five hundred thousand dirhams and not in excess of two million dirhams, if these data or information were deleted, omitted, deteriorated, destructed, disclosed, altered, copied, published or republished.

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The Arabic-language text of this announcement is the official, authoritative version. Translations are provided as an accommodation only, and should be cross-referenced with the Arabic-language text, which is the only version of the text intended to have legal effect.

Contacts

The UAE Minister of Interior's General Secretariat, Tactical Affairs and Security Media Department

Abu Dhabi Police GHQ - Security Media

Chris Cron +971-(0)-50-987-1317

E-mail: cron.media@hotmail.com