Luxury watches, jewellery and treasured personal belongings were successfully returned to their owners.
Dubai: A call from Dubai Police is not something most tourists expect after returning home. For some, it brings the relief of discovering that a cherished possession they believed was lost forever has been found.
For others, it comes as a complete surprise, with officers informing them that an item they did not even realise was missing has been recovered.
In many cases, the call ends with another unexpected reassurance: the lost item will be delivered directly to their doorstep.
According to Emarat Al Youm, Dubai Police have recovered and returned valuable belongings ranging from a necklace worth more than Dh2 million to a Rolex watch valued at Dh150,000. The items were returned through a smart delivery service that allows owners to reclaim lost possessions without having to travel back to Dubai.
The force said the initiative was launched after officials identified the challenges many people faced in collecting lost property, especially visitors who had already left the emirate. Once notified, owners can select a preferred delivery time and location through an online platform, enabling their belongings to be returned wherever they are.
First Lieutenant Reem Al Hosani, head of the Communications and Complaints Follow-up Section at Dubai Police’s Lost and Found Department, said some of the most memorable cases involved people discovering that their belongings had been recovered before they even realised they were missing.
“We have contacted people who did not know they had lost anything,” she said, explaining that their reactions were often filled with disbelief and happiness after learning their possessions had been found and secured.
Over the past five years, Dubai Police have returned 6,040 lost items to their owners. Al Hosani said every item receives the same level of care and attention, regardless of its monetary value, as sentimental significance can often outweigh financial worth.
One of the cases she recalled involved an old mobile phone with no SIM card or identifying information.
After extensive efforts to trace the owner, officers eventually managed to locate him. Deeply touched by their efforts, the man expressed his gratitude by writing a poem dedicated to the team, explaining that his poems were among his most valuable possessions and the most meaningful way he could thank them.
Established in 2015, the Lost and Found Department has developed a unified platform that brings together recovered items from across Dubai, including hotels, shopping malls, airports and government entities. The system now connects around 1,600 strategic partners and is also accessible to the public, allowing anyone who finds a lost item to register it online and help return it to its rightful owner.
The department operates in accordance with UAE lost-property regulations, giving owners three months to claim recovered belongings before they may be auctioned through legal procedures. If items are sold, the proceeds are kept for three years, allowing owners to claim their value if they later come forward.
First Lieutenant Sami Al Houti, who has more than three decades of experience handling lost property, said Dubai Police maintains dedicated high-security vaults for cash, jewellery and luxury watches. He added that specialised equipment is used to inspect and classify precious metals.
He recalled a case involving a Rolex worth around Dh150,000, where officers traced the owner after she had returned to Eastern Europe and believed she had lost the watch during a traffic accident involving her children.
When contacted by Dubai Police, she initially struggled to believe the news, as she was convinced the watch had disappeared at the time of the accident.
In another case, officers reunited a Russian tourist with a watch valued at approximately Dh40,000 after conducting searches that extended beyond Dubai.
When local records did not provide any leads, the team contacted the retailer’s international branches and eventually traced the purchase to a store in France, allowing the watch to be returned to its owner.
Al Houti said that not all memorable recoveries involve high-value items. He recalled one case where a man reported losing a coffee cup worth only a few dirhams because of its deep personal significance. In another instance, a Gulf visitor travelled to Dubai and returned home on the same day simply to collect an item belonging to his wife, despite the journey costing more than the item itself.
“Some belongings simply cannot be measured by their price,” he said.
