Ras Al Khaimah: An unemployed expatriate and a high-school student have been detained for committing 57 robberies in the northern emirates, said the police on Tuesday.

The 22-year-old unemployed Pakistani and the 21-year-old Emirati student have been arrested, but a third suspect, an Emirati, is still at large, said Ras Al Khaimah Police.

The suspects are accused of committing 26 robberies in Ras Al Khaimah, 20 in Fujairah, nine in Umm Al Quwain and two in Kalba, said Lieutenant Colonel Salem Sultan Al Darmaki, chief of the intelligence section at the Criminal Investigation Department of the emirate’s police.

Police officers noticed an increase in robbery cases and an investigation was launched, as instructed by Major General Shaikh Taleb Bin Saqr Al Qasimi, chief of RAK Police, said Lieutenant Colonel Salem Sultan Al Darmaki.

The robbers used sharp tools to break in. During regular surveillance, police patrol noticed two youngsters getting out of a pick-up truck and roaming around. "It was 2:30am and the pick-up van had Sharjah registered number plate (rented from a car-rental agency), and a man came out of it and headed towards a spare parts shop, which fuelled police suspicions,” he said.

The police patrols monitored the suspects till they reached the shop and started to break in. The suspects were then arrested red handed.

The suspects confessed to have committed all the robberies.