Authorities renewed the imprisonment of the international gang arrested yesterday for another 15 days, pending further investigations. The total worth of the goods stolen, the gang says, was LE4 million. The gang stole five kilograms of gold jewelry, including one theft from the home of a district attorney worth LE1.14 million. The gang delivered detailed accounts of their scores before the Nasr City and Heliopolis prosecution departments. They said they typically knocked on the doors of apartments to ensure nobody was inside and then broke in. Investigations reveal the suspects selected Egypt for their crime operation after they discovered the country lacked what they described as a security culture. The absence of surveillance cameras on main streets, squares, and buildings provided incentive. According to the investigations, the suspects used electric drills and hammers to break into apartments. The suspects collaborated with an Israeli to help them smuggle the stolen items out of Egypt. They also decided that, if they were discovered, they would escape into Israel through the Taba road crossing. Investigations have also revealed the Venezuelan female leader of the gang managed to recruit members from South America. The gang's leader confessed after studying several places, they concluded Egypt would be a suitable pace for carrying out their burglary operation. They then selected the quietest and classiest neighborhoods. The first apartment they broke into was owned by a businessman in Heliopolis. They failed to break open a safe they found in the apartment and fled the scene with the safe. They then smashed it open in an apartment they rented in the same neighborhood. The police later found the safe, which contained US$100,000, LE60,000, and gold jewelry, in the apartment the gang rented. One of the gang members said that they managed to smuggle LE3 million and five kilograms of gold jewelry out through the Taba crossing. Translated from the Arabic Edition.
