Abu Dhabi Police said on Thursday that the Criminal Security Sector had arrested the main suspect in an alleged gold jewellery fraud valued at about AED 14 million, within hours of a complaint from a shop owner in Abu Dhabi.
The force announced the case in an official post on X at 09:06 Dubai time on 12 November 2026. No article on this case was found on the Emirates News Agency (WAM) or on the force’s own website, adpolice.gov.ae, at the time of writing. The account below follows the official police wording.
According to Abu Dhabi Police, the shop owner reported that a person had obtained a quantity of gold jewellery about six months earlier. The man had allegedly claimed to work for a number of businessmen and prominent figures in the UAE, taken the jewellery against invoices to be paid later, and then failed to meet those financial obligations.
Police said specialised teams were formed after the complaint, and that officers used smart systems and modern technologies to identify the suspect, locate him and track his movements. They said the main suspect had enlisted other people to collect the gold jewellery and had been hiding in an annexe attached to a house in Abu Dhabi. The official account does not say that those other people were arrested.
Officers said a security operation led to the suspect’s arrest, and that they found boxes containing gold jewellery, as well as invoices and documents linked to the case. During preliminary questioning, the suspect said he had disposed of the remaining jewellery by selling it. That is what he told police at this stage, not a finding by a court or the public prosecution. Abu Dhabi Police has not published a value for the jewellery recovered in the raid. The figure of about AED 14 million is the alleged value of the jewellery obtained from the shop.
A short timeline of what has been officially said
Police have not published a date for when the jewellery was first taken, or for when the complaint was filed. “About six months earlier” is all that has been given.
What Abu Dhabi Police told jewellery traders
The force advised gold and jewellery shop owners, and other commercial establishments, to take the following steps. The points below are drawn only from this official statement.
On how to report, the official statement in this case does not list telephone numbers. The channels below come from Abu Dhabi Police’s own AMAN frequently asked questions, and from the force’s official website, and are set out separately for that reason:
Traders who need to confirm that a customer is legally entitled to represent someone else may find a related, but separate, process in Dubai: the Dubai digital authorisation system. That system is run in Dubai, not in Abu Dhabi, and does not replace the police advice above.
What has not been disclosed
Businesses watching how fraud attempts are changing may also want our earlier guide to AI scams UAE businesses need to watch. For the wider gold market around this case, see the latest on UAE gold prices and our recent piece on the Dhanteras gold rush in Dubai.