Five robbers have been arrested on suspicion of breaking into an old lady's apartment and stealing money and jewelry.According to initial police reports, the suspects broke into the apartment of an old lady living alone in Heliopolis with the intention of killing her and making away with her possessions. After they found the lady was absent they stole her money and jewelry worth a quarter of a million pounds.Immediately after their exit from the building s gate, however, a police patrol arrested them in possession of the stolen items and tools used in the break-in, say police.The prosecutor ordered the suspects be jailed pending investigation and the owner of the robbed apartment be summoned. The lady said she went to the doctor s and was not able to come back to her home, so she decided to spend the night somewhere else. While Investigation Associate Maj. Hisham Hussein was patrolling the area to check the security situation, he suspected two people in a taxi parked in a dark place and so he arrested them.On searching the two people - unemployed Yehia Hassan Salem, 35-years-old, from Al-Matariya, and his neighbor Essam Mohamed Ali, 34 years old, who was driving his mother s taxi - the officer found a hammer and a pointed piece of iron with them. On the way to the police station, the patrol was informed that three thieves were arrested in the same district in possession of the same tools, a medical tape, a pocket knife and a bag including jewelry and a sum of money.The first of the three is Mahmoud Gamil Mahdi, 28, from Al-Mahalla. He was charged with three thefts. The second person is Sameh Mohammad Ali, 30, also from Al-Mahalla. He is recorded with the police for intimidation. The third is named Salem, a brother of the former. He is recorded with the police for theft.Investigations, supervised by Cairo Investigation Director Maj. Gen. Amin Ezzieddin, revealed that the mother of the suspect s wife works as a maid for an old lady called Nadia Fouad, 60 years, who lives alone and keeps a lot of money and jewelry at her apartment.After Sameh failed to practice his profession in Al-Mahalla, he headed for Al-Matariya with his friend and the remaining suspects, who are relatives. They agreed to break into the old lady s apartment to kill her and rob her money, say police.Late on the night in question, they allegedly took a Cairo taxi to the victim s home, where they went upstairs to her apartment and knocked the door, but nobody replied. So they decided to break the lock, but failing to find the old lady, they took LE 10,000 and some jewelry and fled the place. The victim said that she suffered a sudden illness and so she went to the doctor s but she did not come back to her home. She has accused the five men with theft.The alleged thieves were sent to the prosecutor who ordered them to be jailed. An indisposition has rescued me from a certain murder, the old lady said.
