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Anybody heard anything about this?

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340 ... 51,00.html


Wave of arrests follow plot to blow up Dubai tower

Month and a half after plan to blow up tallest skyscraper in world exposed, 45 more suspects arrested in addition to eight arrested when plot unraveled. Palestinians, Syrians, Lebanese among those detained. Iran suspected to be mastermind behind plot

The defense apparatus in the United Arab Emirates arrested 45 suspects, most of them Palestinian and Lebanese, after the plot to blow up Burj Dubai (Dubai Tower) was uncovered. Dubai Tower, currently under construction, is the tallest building in the world.


The current wave of arrests adds to the eight other suspects detained immediately after the plot was revealed one and a half months ago. The detainees were apparently sent as agents of Iran.

Kuwaiti newspaper, al-Jareeda, reported a month and a half ago that UAE security officials arrested "an armed network affiliated with one of the countries in the region that operated on Ras al-Khaimah." Dubai was apparently hesitant to say so explicitly, but the implication was towards Iran as the responsible party for the terror network.


Ras al-Khaimah was is the northern-most emirate in the United Arab Emirates and borders the Strait of Hormuz and the Persian Gulf, both of which run parallel to Iran.


The Kuwaiti newspaper reported that of the eight detainees, two are UAE citizens and the rest are Syrians and Palestinians. They were transferred to Abu Dhabi for investigation under a strict media blackout. According to the report, UAE officials found a weapons cache in a house in which the detainees were staying. One of the detainees with UAE citizenship works in the pharmaceutical industry, and the other UAE citizen is "a member of a well-known family in Abu Dhabi."


Officials connected to the case reported to Ynet that some of the detainees said in the investigation that they plotted to crash a plane into the Burj Dubai. The plan apparently was to carry out the attack close to the inauguration of the building upon its completion at the end of 2009. According to these same sources, it was possible that the plane would await them in an unofficial airfield in Iran.


Ynet has learned that the UAE has embarked upon an additional wave of arrests as the case has developed. Recently, 45 more suspects were arrested. Most of the detainees in this round of arrests are Lebanese and Palestinian with various citizenships. A majority of them were expelled from the country. The UAE has denied these allegations.


Increasing Iranian influence in Ras al-Khaimah

The Kuwaiti news report claimed that UAE defense officials have followed radical religious and political activists in recent years out of a concern that they would seek to exploit the country's relative openness to deepen their hold on the local population and carry out terrorist attacks on UAE territory. This concern was made particularly poignant following the significant entry easements made recently for foreign nationals, including people holding Iranian citizenship.

This is a particularly sensitive report that UAE officials, who are very concerned about Iran, would prefer not be published. According to sources linked to the case, the Iranians have real foothold in the UAE, particularly in Ras al-Khaimah. Iran has cultivated close business relations with Crown Prince Saud bin Saqr al-Qasimi and his close associate, Lebanese Shiite businessman, Massad Khater.

According to these sources, this is not merely an innocent business relationship. Khater is a partner in a ceramics factory called Ras al-Khaimah Ceramics. This factory, the sources claim, directly aids Iran's weapons and missiles industry. The factory even has a branch in the Iranian city of Natanz, where parts for Iranian warheads are produced.


Khater is also one of the owners of the pharmaceutical company at which one of the detainees arrested for the Burj Dubai plot works.

The only suprise is that Herve was not blamed for that as well !!!

"Alhors, it was like I was a spectre, dressed as a Bangladeshi labourer I was able to hide een the 'ow you say , basemente of l'tour Dubai ..."

There was always stories of paying the terrorists off.... Maybe this is just another symptom of the recession

I am looking for job for almost 5 months. I have 2 yrs experience in Dubai as Office coordinator and Sales coordinator. I have finished my Diploma in Logistics and Supply Chain Management. I am a graduate in Business Management. And I also have my drivers licensed.

Is the market down?

melangfortich@yahoo.com wrote:I am looking for job for almost 5 months. I have 2 yrs experience in Dubai as Office coordinator and Sales coordinator. I have finished my Diploma in Logistics and Supply Chain Management. I am a graduate in Business Management. And I also have my drivers licensed.

Is the market down?

I think you might be on the wrong thread old boy!

Well what a coincidance trying to bring RAK into disrepute just as they are prepping for the Americas cup

The UAE security forces found them ............

How ?

Did they all have matching T shirts with "I'm a terrorist" written on the back ?

No way is this serious, looks like something out of the Sun Newspaper

http://business.maktoob.com/20090000370 ... rticle.htm

This might account for why there are also stories of mass deportation of lebanese shi'ites and Palestinians recently. See link above. Perhaps a bit more believable that the first link, which is an Israeli site.

Also to bear in mind, there's a guy currently being tried in Abu Dhabi on terrorism charges, allegedly linked to Al Qaeda, eagerly watched representatives from the US, so it says in the press.

Things are quite delicate in the region at the moment, regarding Iran, Israel, etc. If it's not true, it could be the Israelis trying to stir it up.

BlueOrb wrote:http://business.maktoob.com/20090000370886/UAE_accused_of_deporting_Shi_ites/Article.htm

This might account for why there are also stories of mass deportation of lebanese shi'ites and Palestinians recently. See link above. Perhaps a bit more believable that the first link, which is an Israeli site.

Also to bear in mind, there's a guy currently being tried in Abu Dhabi on terrorism charges, allegedly linked to Al Qaeda, eagerly watched representatives from the US, so it says in the press.

Things are quite delicate in the region at the moment, regarding Iran, Israel, etc. If it's not true, it could be the Israelis trying to stir it up.

I clicked on the link, read the article.

I went back to it 5 minutes later and this was the message;

Sorry, this Page has been deleted. Click on the logo to return to the homepage.

So does exporting Shi-te add to the gross export figures of the UAE, & how is it represented in the government accounts?

As fertilizer, perhaps.

Is it measured by the Metric Tonne or by the container load.

viking-warrior wrote:So does exporting Shi-te add to the gross export figures of the UAE, & how is it represented in the government accounts?

As fertilizer, perhaps.

Is it measured by the Metric Tonne or by the container load.

Somehow I believe that this issue is more than the joke that you are making it out to be with your inane comments!!!!

sage & onion wrote:
I clicked on the link, read the article.

I went back to it 5 minutes later and this was the message;

Sorry, this Page has been deleted. Click on the logo to return to the homepage.

The link is active, it opened on my screen

^^ So what is it that surprises you about a totalitarian dictatorship that engages in a touch of ethnic cleansing ?

Sure the terminology will certainly raise a few hackles but what else would you call it ?

Agreed it is not big and it is not clever, and a great many of those deported will have been born there, but what the heck, its his country and he will make the rules - truth be told I think there are a great number of European countries that would simply love to follow suit BUT we have that awful D word hanging over us - democracy, dag nab it.

janathar wrote:

sage & onion wrote:
I clicked on the link, read the article.

I went back to it 5 minutes later and this was the message;

Sorry, this Page has been deleted. Click on the logo to return to the homepage.

The link is active, it opened on my screen

Yes indeed back again.

What's interesting is that it is (allegedly) partially Palestinians being deported, when only 9 months ago we were all celebrating the New Year without live music and fireworks, etc, in show of solidarity with them while they were being pummeled by Israel (and giving some back, for sure). Now they seem to be (again, allegedly) persona non grata.
It wouldn't surprise me to find someone somewhere pulling some strings to ensure things happen to suit the bigger picture here in the Middle East region. Probably not a good idea to go into specifics on an open forum......

viking-warrior wrote:The only suprise is that Herve was not blamed for that as well !!!

"Alhors, it was like I was a spectre, dressed as a Bangladeshi labourer I was able to hide een the 'ow you say , basemente of l'tour Dubai ..."

Très amusant! But let's face it he was no Lawrence was he!

This plot, if true, maybe puts a more reasonable face on the decision by the UAE to beef up its military. The region is not becoming more stable.

And surely ethnic cleansing is a little strong for the ejection of a few Shi'ites (Lebanese as well as Palestinian) aganst a background of threatened terror attacks. Anyway, as you hinted at here, some other countries would love to be able to do the same in certain situations if they hadn't tied their own hands by welcoming allcomers with passports.

Also, just because this report has appeared on an Israeli news site does NOT automatically mean that it's valueless, n'est ce pas? Maybe we will see more about this.

OK, ethnic cleansing on a Balkan scale it ain't, and it is not a practice that I totally disagree with, but if there is a message that this particular "no smoke with out fire" story might carry, it is that the politics of envy perhaps outweigh those of even religion and as such some of the GCC cities need to ensure that alienation of marginal groups does not spawn acts of lunacy.

Dubai has thrust itself into the forefront of the public mindset as representing all that is big brash and glitzy, and wrong, in the minds of the disaffected and therefore gets the biggest vote on the regions risk-o-meter. I dealt with a few agencies whilst there whose job it was to constantly monitor these risks and it was always a little uneasy reading those reports.

Stories like these pop up every 2-3 years in Dubai, as far back as I can remember, but nothing substantive ever seemed to be presented - it always "just went away"... you know the routine, someone met someone who suggested to someone that the problem should just go away !

The Israelis are very well hooked into what is going on all over the GCC - in some of the stangest ways, even in some cases in advisory roles.

There is synergy behind the scenes, and whilst Israel is a highly pro-US country, the state is acutely aware of its geographic location and who needs to be help along the path!

Finkelstein has links to two articles on the recent expulsions, FWIW (they date from a few weeks ago):

Here's the second one:

http://www.normanfinkelstein.com/ominous-developments-in-the-uae-2/


Cheers,
Shafique

Where do you dig up this stuff - good read - but dang bit out there ?

There's more to this to be revealed - me thinks

viking-warrior wrote:OK, ethnic cleansing on a Balkan scale it ain't, and it is not a practice that I totally disagree with, but if there is a message that this particular "no smoke with out fire" story might carry, it is that the politics of envy perhaps outweigh those of even religion and as such some of the GCC cities need to ensure that alienation of marginal groups does not spawn acts of lunacy.

Dubai has thrust itself into the forefront of the public mindset as representing all that is big brash and glitzy, and wrong, in the minds of the disaffected and therefore gets the biggest vote on the regions risk-o-meter. I dealt with a few agencies whilst there whose job it was to constantly monitor these risks and it was always a little uneasy reading those reports.

Stories like these pop up every 2-3 years in Dubai, as far back as I can remember, but nothing substantive ever seemed to be presented - it always "just went away"... you know the routine, someone met someone who suggested to someone that the problem should just go away !

I don't know about the monitoring of risks, so I take that as read, but I do know someone in charge of a part of the police anti-terror operations, and he has always confirmed to me that he has never had to handle a bomb situation, so the fact that we don't hear about it is not just due to any press blanket.

Although there is always a risk of separatist or splinter groups looking to make a name, the story has always been that Dubai is too useful to the major terrorist organisations to move their money around, for it to be a serious target, despite all the haram expat behaviour here. I hope that's still the case!

smoggie wrote:Anybody heard anything about this?

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340 ... 51,00.html


Wave of arrests follow plot to blow up Dubai tower

Month and a half after plan to blow up tallest skyscraper in world exposed, 45 more suspects arrested in addition to eight arrested when plot unraveled. Palestinians, Syrians, Lebanese among those detained. Iran suspected to be mastermind behind plot

I find the grammar in that opening paragraph very strange for a supposedly professional writer. Is this story real?

http://www.gulfnews.com/nation/Police_a ... 49070.html

Just looks like it was supposed to be a subheadline, for which it is quite normal to leave out adjectives, conjunctions, etc. Nothing suspicious about that. Blame the sub-editor.

But did they really spell unravelled with one L ? That's typical of UAE newspapers.

Are you a teacher? I forget, you've been away a while.

A bit more detail from the Washington Times for anybody interested:

http://washingtontimes.com/news/2009/se ... rror-plot/