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UAE police help foil biggest drug smuggling bid this year
UAE police help foil biggest drug smuggling bid this year Amira Agarib / 24 September 2013 More than half a billion dirhams worth of drugs have been seized by international anti-narcotics agents with help from Dubai Police, in the biggest drug haul in the world this year. The Dubai Police General Department of Anti-Narcotic helped foil an attempt to smuggle Dh500 million worth of crystal methamphetamine and Dh3.5 million worth of hashish, leading to the arrest of 10 Balochi and Iranian suspects. The operation took place in the international waters of the Indian Ocean, 360 kilometres off the coast of Somalia. During a Press conference held in the presence of Dubai Police General Department of Anti-Narcotics Director Major General Abdul Jalil Mahdi; Dubai Police Deputy Commander-in-Chief Major General Khamis Mattar Al Mazina said the major operation confirmed the effectiveness of the UAE’s officials through its contribution in combating large international drug smuggling rings in the Indian Ocean. The process was fulfilled in various stages under the follow-up of Lt. General Shaikh Saif bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior, and Dubai Police Commander-in-Chief Lieutenant General Dhahi Khalfan Tamim, he said. The operation, which actually took place in June, was top quality in terms of cooperation and coordination with the international authorities, he said. The operation began in the UAE when the Anti-narcotic Department obtained important information that a fishing vessel had left a Pakistani port for Djibouti, containing a large shipment of narcotic substances, where it intended to transfer drugs to another ship in a specific place in the waters of the Indian Ocean. The Dubai Police determined the exact location and passed details to international coalition forces.Al Mazina said a working group was formed including a number of Ministry of Interior and Dubai Police drug officers, which continued to liaise with officials up to the raid. Al Mazina said international coalition forces intercepted the ship, and raided it before discovery the drugs, which led to the arrest of the 10. On the first day, they confiscated 350kg of hashish. However on the second day, the police were passed information that there were more drugs, so forces searched again and discovered 500kg of crystal amphetamine hidden behind the engines of the ship. Al Mazina said the commander of operations of the naval forces of the international coalition expressed their gratitude to Dubai Police for their cooperation, and the good efforts in passing on the information which led to the success of the operation. Al Mazina described the seizure as a big blow to the drug traffickers of the world. He said the use of the Indian Ocean as a smuggling route reflected the importance of the big role played by the UAE in the fight against drugs not only locally and regionally, but globally as well. “Dubai police have sources and keep eyes every where to catch and strike drugs traffickers and criminals.” Al Mazina said countries would cooperate to prevent illegal trading at sea and if security forces had reasonable doubts, they would raid ships that had no flags. Because the operation did not take place in the UAE regional waters, the suspects would not be tried here, Al Mazina said. “The suspects under arrest will be handed over to the Asian country from where they came from in accordance with international sea laws.” Al Mazina said details had not been revealed earlier due to certain circumstances including requests from the countries involved. He praised efforts of all parties locally and internationally who participated in the operation, with a special mention to his team. Continue reading
Education: Adopting a holistic approach
Education: Adopting a holistic approach Ajita Nayar (Guest Column) / 24 September 2013 Since the United Nations declared 2005 – 2014 as the decade for Education for Sustainable Development, the subject has been a hot topic in schools. Converse to the traditional way of teaching, Education for Sustainable Development means adopting a more holistic approach to education with the aim of ‘creating a better world for this generation and future generations of all living things on planet Earth.’ This allows every child to acquire the knowledge, skills, attitudes and values necessary to shape a sustainable future. Humans tend to look at development as a needed and normal process, but when this process becomes increasingly dependent on over-exploitation of our natural resources, the replenishment of these reserves and supplies is affected; and managing this imbalance demands assuming a slightly different school of thought. One way to cultivate this mindset in our youngsters is by encouraging sustainable lifestyles through Education for Sustainable Development. Living sustainably is about changing our attitudes in a way that helps transform our lives into something that doesn’t impact too heavily on our current routines, while using the planet’s resources in moderation. Education for Sustainable Development incorporates key environmental challenges like climate change into core subjects like math, science and art, and involves modifying the teaching-learning process to a more all-encompassing approach. Students are thus able to relate what they learn in the classroom to their real life actions, and will increasingly be in a better position to take the lead in changing behaviours and adopting sustainable lifestyles, the more this type of education is adopted. As schools no longer function in isolation, their integration with the world outside has exposed students to different people and cultures, giving them the opportunity to appreciate what the planet offers, while respecting the need to use resources efficiently and responsibly. The decade of Education for Sustainable Development is already proving popular with thousands of students across the UAE taking part in environmental education programmes; among them are Be’ati Watani and Eco-Schools UAE, both implemented by EWS-WWF. These two programmes are serving as vital tools for schools to produce environmentally-responsible citizens. One evident example of how environmental education is helping shape a sustainable future is from an Eco-School in the UAE recently awarded the Green Flag, a symbol of excellence in environmental performance. These students identified the need for more wall space to spread environmental awareness messages in their school, so they created a huge mobile wall of used cartons piled one above the other! Besides reducing the amount of waste produced in their school and saving school funds, these students put forward the important message within their school community and beyond, of innovative thinking to make maximum use of available and reusable resources. Education for Sustainable Development is not only about being environmentally-friendly; it also involves developing life-skills including leadership, communication and management, all of which are extremely important for personal development. By equipping young people with these relevant capabilities in addition to their environmental knowledge, they can excel at living lives which not only further humanity, but that care for and respect our planet’s resources too. There are numerous examples that only serve to reiterate the benefits of implementing Education for Sustainable Development in schools in the UAE. Students from an Eco-School in Ras Al Khaimah encouraged their head teacher to install water dispensers in the corridors and fellow students to bring a reusable bottle to school; saving both money and plastic. The reason these youngsters did this was simple: because of their belief in the need to lower water usage and waste in their school. This type of learning goes beyond the school. What a child learns during this process shouldn’t stop there — it must be practiced by the family, too. Wise use of water and energy both at home and in the work place must be part of our natural behaviour as parents and care-givers. Greater efforts must be put in by families and communities to reduce waste, recycle regularly and opt for public transport to demonstrate the importance to our children of living more sustainably. Our homes and communities can be the ideal platform for children to exercise and experience what they learn in the classroom. – news@khaleejtimes.com Ajita Nayar is the Education Manager for Emirates Wildlife Society – in association with WWF (EWS-WWF). She is responsible for managing Be’ati Watani programme, an online environmental education programme aimed at educating children by evoking their interest in local biodiversity and environmental issues. She also leads the implementation of Eco-Schools UAE, an international initiative designed to encourage whole-school action for the environment. Continue reading
Gunfire erupts after Kenya claims total control over mall
Gunfire erupts after Kenya claims total control over mall (Reuters) / 24 September 2013 Kenya said its security forces were in control of the Nairobi shopping mall where fighters killed at least 62 people, and police were doing a final sweep of shops early on Tuesday after rescuing the last hostages. An overnight silence outside the large, upmarket Westgate mall was broken at daybreak with a loud burst of gunfire from inside, suggesting the complex had not yet been fully secured. A lone military chopper circled above. “Our forces are combing the mall floor by floor looking for anyone left behind. We believe all hostages have been released,” the Ministry of Interior said on Twitter early on Tuesday, adding his forces were “in control” of the building. A trickle of survivors left on Monday, but the fate of the missing was unclear four days after a group of between 10 and 15 militants stormed the mall, which with its rich clientele epitomised the African consumer bonanza that is drawing foreign investment to one of the world’s fastest growing regions. Mohamed told the “PBS Newshour” show the Americans were “young men, about between maybe 18 and 19” years old. They were of Somali origin or Arab origin, and had lived in the US, “in Minnesota and one other place”, she said. US authorities are urgently looking into information from the Kenyan government that residents of Western countries, including the United States, may have been among the militants, US security sources said. “We do monitor very carefully and have for some time been concerned about efforts by Al Shabaab to recruit Americans or US persons to come to Somalia,” White House deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes said. He told reporters travelling with US President Barack Obama to the United Nations in New York that he had no direct information that Americans had participated in the attack. Obama offered US support, saying he believed Kenya – the scene of one of al Qaeda’s first major attacks, in 1998, and a neighbour of chaotic Somalia – would continue to be a regional pillar of stability. Obama, whose father was born in Kenya, said the United States stood with Kenyans against “this terrible outrage.” Patience Kenyan officials have tried to reassure the country that it would seize control of the situation. “We appeal for patience, keep calm, avoid Westgate at all costs and wait for the official communication,” the Ministry of Interior and Coordination of National Government in The Office of the President said on Twitter. A press briefing was expected later on Tuesday. Al Qaeda killed more than 200 people when it bombed the US Embassy in Nairobi in 1998. When fighters from its Somali ideological counterpart stormed the mall on Saturday, they hit a high-profile symbol of Kenya’s economic power. Kenya has sent troops to Somalia as part of an African Union force trying to stabilise the country, which was long without a functioning government, and push back Al Shabaab. It has also suffered internal instability. President Uhuru Kenyatta, who lost a nephew in the weekend bloodbath, faces charges of crimes against humanity at the International Criminal Court for his alleged role in coordinating violence after disputed elections in 2007. He denies the charges. Kenyatta has dismissed a demand that he pull Kenyan forces out of Somalia, saying he would not relent in a “war on terror.” British Defence Secretary Philip Hammond said he believed six Britons had died in the attack. Other known foreign victims are from China, Ghana, France, the Netherlands and Canada. Kenyan officials said the total death toll was at least 62. Speculation rose about the identity of the attackers. Interior Minister Joseph Ole Lenku had earlier said they were all men but that some had dressed as women. Despite his comments, one intelligence officer and two soldiers told Reuters that one of the dead militants was a white woman, likely to fuel speculation that she is the wanted widow of one of the suicide bombers who together killed more than 50 people on London’s transport system in 2005. Called the “white widow” by the British press, Samantha Lewthwaite is wanted in connection with an alleged plot to attack hotels and restaurants in Kenya. Asked if the dead woman was Lewthwaite, the intelligence officer said: “We don’t know.” From Mali to Algeria, Nigeria to Kenya, violent millitants groups – tapping into local poverty, conflict, inequality or exclusion but espousing a similar anti-Western, anti-Christian creed – are striking at state authority and international interests, both economic and political. Continue reading
