A supermarket in Doha’s Old Airport (Matar Qadeem) area has reopened for business after thieves broke in and stole thousands of riyals in cash early yesterday morning.

The Shoprite store on Al Matar Street, between D and E Ring Roads, was robbed at around 1am Tuesday, an employee from the shop told Doha News.

The representative said two men broke a window to get into the grocery store. Gulf Times reported that once inside, they opened a safe using a sharp-edged weapon.

The thieves took the QR100,000 that had been stored in the safe overnight. Nothing else was stolen, the worker added.

The robbery was discovered hours later by staff who arrived to open up the shop for business. Police are investigating and have CCTV footage that shows the men inside the supermarket, Gulf Times added.

The shop was closed yesterday until around 8pm, and opened again as usual to the public today at 8am.

Low crime rate

Reports of robberies and thefts in Qatar remain unusual, and the overall crime rate in the state is falling, according to a report issued earlier this month by the Ministry of Interior (MOI).

The ministry said the rate of crimes fell during 2015 by 3.5 percent, although it did not give a figure for the number of reported cases.

It did not offer any theories as to why crime may be falling, but it has been beefing up its electronic surveillance efforts through new programs such as its “Security Coverage of Commercial Streets” initiative.

Thoughts?