Tag Archives: lifestyle
Police chase leads to arrest of drug trio
Police chase leads to arrest of drug trio Amira Agarib / 22 July 2013 Three suspects who attempted to ram a police vehicle with their car during a high speed pursuit have been arrested by the joint anti-narcotics teams of the Ministry of Interior and were found in possession of a number of banned drugs. Director of the General Department of Anti-Narcotics of the Dubai Police and Vice-President of the Anti-Narcotics Higher Committee Major General Abdul Jalil Mahdi praised the professional operation carried out by the officers involved, noting that the drugs have been seized from the suspects. He said that the joint anti-drugs police teams from Ras Al Khaimah and the Dubai Police anti-drugs central information department as well as the General Department of Anti-Narcotics at the Ministry of Interior have arrested the three Arab suspects, 22-year-old M.S., 37-year-old M.F. both sales executives and 19-year-old student A.A.A. The police seized 10,000 banned pills from the trio, which require a medical prescription, in addition to a small quantity of opium. Maj-Gen Mahdi praised the teams for their courage to arrest the suspects after they received information that the suspects, known for smuggling and promoting drugs in the UAE, were to receive quantities of drugs in Ras Al Khaimah. Police teams moved to different parts of the emirate to survey the area and managed to locate the suspects in the Ras Khet area. The police spotted one of the suspects carrying a plastic bag and entering a waiting car in an area surrounded by trees. The suspect then realised they were being watched which is when the car sped off. Failing to shake the police from their tail, the first suspect, who was driving the vehicle, made several attempts to ram the police vehicle, but officers managed to force the car to stop. The driver then attempted to flee the scene on foot but officers from the RAK police chased him down and placed him under arrest, along with the other two suspects who gave themselves up at the scene. Upon searching the suspects’ car, the police seized the banned drugs and the three men confessed to smuggling and promoting drugs. They said they received the drug quantities in the Ras Khet area. Colonel Ibrahim Ali Hassan from the Ras Al Khaimah anti-drugs unit praised this important operation. He called on the public to call the police to report any drug-related crimes on the toll free number 800400400 or to the duty officer on 050 5516218. Drug dealers caught following explosion In another case, three drug traffickers have been arrested after their attempts to smuggle crystal meth hidden in four gas cylinders led to an explosion in a flat in Fareej Al Murrar. The Anti-Narcotics unit of the Dubai Police arrested the trio in late June. Director of the General Department of Anti-Narcotics of the Dubai Police Major General Abdul Jalil Mahdi said that when the cylinders exploded, police officials and Civil Defence teams rushed to the site. The explosion occurred when one of the suspects tried to use an electrical cutter on one of the cylinders to extract the drug, without ensuring that the remaining three cylinders were out of the way. The explosion led to the material losses of the building and the suspect who tried to extract the drugs sustained several injuries, but escaped the scene before police officials arrived. Maj-Gen Mahdi said that the criminals hid the drugs in a very professional way, which could not be detected and they seized 32.4kg of crystal meth, which was not destroyed by the fire. Within one hour of reaching the scene, the police managed to arrest the first suspect, 44-year-old suspect S.A., an investor who lives in the Hor Al Anz area in Dubai. Upon questioning, he confessed that he shifted the drugs from Sharjah and that he called the second suspect to extract the drug from the cylinder. Based on the information, the police rushed to Sharjah and raided the flat of the third suspect, H.A., a married private company employee. He confessed that he was a partner in the operation and the police then arrested the second suspect, 38-year-old S.R., who caused the explosion. He confirmed that he was contacted to extract the drugs from the cylinder and upon his arrest, the police rushed him to Rashid Hospital to receive medical treatment for the injuries he sustained. news@khaleejtimes.com Continue reading
500m phones under threat: UN warns of mobile bugs
500m phones under threat: UN warns of mobile bugs (Reuters) / 22 July 2013 A United Nations group that advises nations on cybersecurity plans to send out an alert about significant vulnerabilities in mobile phone technology that could potentially enable hackers to remotely attack at least half a billion phones. The bug, discovered by German firm, allows hackers to remotely gain control of and also clone certain mobile SIM cards. Hackers could use compromised SIMs to commit financial crimes or engage in electronic espionage, according to Berlin’s Security Research Labs, which will describe the vulnerabilities at the Black Hat hacking conference that opens in Las Vegas on July 31. The UN’s Geneva-based International Telecommunications Union, which has reviewed the research, described it as “hugely significant.” “These findings show us where we could be heading in terms of cybersecurity risks,” ITU Secretary-General Hamadoun Touré told Reuters. He said the agency would notify telecommunications regulators and other government agencies in nearly 200 countries about the potential threat and also reach out to hundreds of mobile companies, academics and other industry experts. A spokeswoman for the GSMA, which represents nearly 800 mobile operators worldwide, said it also reviewed the research. “We have been able to consider the implications and provide guidance to those network operators and SIM vendors that may be impacted,” said GSMA spokeswoman Claire Cranton. Nicole Smith, a spokeswoman for Gemalto NV, the world’s biggest maker of SIM cards, said her company supported GSMA’s response. “Our policy is to refrain from commenting on details relating to our customers’ operations,” she said. BECOMING THE SIM Cracking SIM cards has long been the Holy Grail of hackers because the tiny devices are located in phones and allow operators to identify and authenticate subscribers as they use networks. Karsten Nohl, the chief scientist who led the research team and will reveal the details at Black Hat, said the hacking only works on SIMs that use an old encryption technology known as DES. The technology is still used on at least one out of eight SIMs, or a minimum of 500 million phones, according to Nohl. The ITU estimates some 6 billion mobile phones are in use worldwide. It plans to work with the industry to identify how to protect vulnerable devices from attack, Touré said. Once a hacker copies a SIM, it can be used to make calls and send text messages impersonating the owner of the phone, said Nohl, who has a doctorate in computer engineering from the University of Virginia. “We become the SIM card. We can do anything the normal phone users can do,” Nohl said in a phone interview. “If you have a MasterCard number or PayPal data on the phone, we get that too.” iPHONE, ANDROID, BLACKBERRY The mobile industry has spent several decades defining common identification and security standards for SIMs to protect data for mobile payment systems and credit card numbers. SIMs are also capable of running apps. Nohl said Security Research Labs found mobile operators in many countries whose phones were vulnerable, but declined to identify them. He said mobile phone users in Africa could be among the most vulnerable because banking is widely done via mobile payment systems with credentials stored on SIMs. All types of phones are vulnerable, including iPhones from Apple Inc, phones that run Google Inc’s Android software and BlackBerry Ltd smartphones, he said. BlackBerry’s director of security response and threat analysis, Adrian Stone, said in a statement that his company proposed new SIM card standards last year to protect against the types of attacks described by Nohl, which the GSMA has adopted and advised members to implement. Apple and Google declined to comment. CTIA, a US mobile industry trade group based in Washington, D.C., said the new research likely posed no immediate threat. “We understand the vulnerability and are working on it,” said CTIA Vice-President John Marinho. “This is not what hackers are focused on. This does not seem to be something they are exploiting.” Continue reading
Lost weight to turn to gold
Lost weight to turn to gold Staff Reporter / 21 July 2013 The population of Dubai will be tens of thousands of kilograms lighter, but more sparkly if residents plans go their way. The Dubai Municipality’s “Your Weight in Gold” initiative got a thumping response from residents of Dubai when it began on Friday evening at Safa Park, with thousands registering on the first day. The initiative is to promote a healthy lifestyle and to encourage people to shed the fat. The event was kicked off at Gate 2 of Al Safa Park in the presence of Director General of Dubai Municipality Hussain Nasser Lootah, as well as senior officials and partners. Lootah said: “The overwhelming response from the public in this hot season indicates that the people in Dubai are highly concerned about their health and fitness”. People registered at five main parks around Dubai. DM’s Head of the Media Section Yusuf Murad said people have the motivation to lose the excess flab. “The top three winners will get the gold equivalent of Dh20,000 each and participants who (lose) a minimum two kilograms and above will get one gram of gold for each kg reduced from their weight.” Murad said registration sites were at Al Safa Park Gate 2, Zabeel Park Gate 3, Main Gates of Al Barsha and Al Khawaneej and the starting point of Al Mamzar Track. “Because of the long queues in all parks people tried different parks to get entry in the first day and many of them postponed the registration to coming days. The registration is open throughout the period of the campaign from 8pm to midnight.” All participants will receive a call or SMS for the confirmation and they have to report to any of above five parks on 19 August to record the final weight, Murad said. — news@khaleejtimes.com Continue reading
