Dubai: A 13-year-old Emirati boy was stabbed to death, allegedly by four Emirati teenagers over "a silly and a childish argument", a senior police official said on Saturday.

There were 13 stab wounds on the body, which was found in a pool of blood in Al Rashidiya on Thursday evening.

The suspects have been arrested.

Parental guidance could have prevented theunfortunate incident, the police official has said.

"It saddens me to speak about the gruesome killing of a 13-year-old boy who was found covered in a pool of blood in Al Rashidiya on Thursday evening," the source told Gulf News.

He said the argument started with "ridiculous" remarks that the boys exchanged with each other. It started with a teenager, who is believed to be the brother of the victim, making sarcastic comments to another while he went out of the barber shop earlier that evening.

The problem was not in a single encounter; it involved a number of small separate arguments taking place with different teenagers who all knew each other in one way or another, he added.

The person who was mocked had a verbally charged argument with the brother of the victim and threatened he would beat him up badly, according to investigations carried by the investigative unit of Dubai Police.

Later that evening, the teenager called his "gang of friends", who are between 14 and 16 years old, to head towards the house of the person who mocked him.

On their way to his residence in Al Rashidiya, they came across his brother who was just getting out of his residence. Upon encountering the 13-year-old victim, they beat him up. "Two of the teenage suspects had knives with them but only one of them used his knife to hit the victim. He was stabbed around 13 times mostly in his stomach," said a source who worked closely on the investigations.

The incident happened around 8.30pm on Thursday and it was witnessed by some of the residents in the area who reported the matter to the operations room of Dubai Police.

Collapsed

The four teenagers involved in the fighting had fled the area after the victim had collapsed on the entrance gate of his villa.

"The four suspects were arrested within hours from committing the crime, and were hiding in different areas in Al Warqa and Al Rashidiya.

The family of the victim was very cooperative as were the families of the suspects.

The suspects were arrested with the assistance of their brothers," said the source working on the investigations.

The four teenage suspects did not have any criminal record with Dubai Police, he said.

"This incident could have been prevented if parental guidance was there. These teenagers need to be directed and monitored for their behaviour and with whom they hang out.

"Parents need to constantly be present and take active roles in their children's upbringing," said Major Saeed Al Ayalli, acting director of the Criminal Investigation Division of Dubai Police, while adding that murders involving minors are considered rare in Dubai.

Canine power: Dog finds weapon

The crime weapon, a knife, was found a few kilometres away from the crime scene by a police dog, Mahu, a five-year-old German shepherd. Mahu has been trained by Dubai Police since he was a puppy.

"Mahu found the weapon lying in between a bunch of trees in Al Rashidiya," his trainer said.

The task given to such dogs is quite challenging since the scent of the object differs, he said.

Man carrying Dh12m in luggage arrested

Abu Dhabi: Abu Dhabi police have detained a man who was carrying Dh12 million cash in his luggage.

The 37-year-old Asian man claimed that he was asked by a currency exchange in his home country to transfer the amount to another currency exchange in the UAE.

He was promised Dh2,000 and a business class ticket.

Colonel Dr Rashid Mohammad Bu Rasheed, Head of the Organised Crime Section at the Abu Dhabi Police Criminal Investigation Department (CID), said that airport security authorities grew suspicious of the man who was carrying various currencies totalling Dh12 million hidden in his luggage.

Employed as clerk

The man is employed as a clerk for a private company specialising in paving marble and floor tiles in the country.

"Investigations revealed that the money belongs to the money exchange in the country, but the man was not aware that carrying such an amount is a wrong and doubtful act, and the money must be transferred through a proper money transfer method," Col Bu Rasheed said.

The amount included Dh1.5 million, 7.65 million Saudi riyals, (Dh7.48 million) 50,000 Qatari riyals, (Dh50,426) 1,000 Omani riyals (Dh475,072) 223,500 euros (Dh1,115,710) and £310,000 (Dh1,715,470)

The money laundering law No 4 for 2002 defines money laundering as every act that involves carrying, transferring or depositing money without disclosing the method by which the amount was obtained.

The punishment for this crime according to article 13 of the law, is imprisonment for not more than seven years and a fine of not more than Dh300,000 and not less than Dh30,000 or both punishments along with the seizure of the money or the property.

Police: Avoid suspicion

Colonel Dr Rashid Mohammad Bu Rasheed, Head of the Organised Crime Section at the Abu Dhabi Police Criminal Investigation Department (CID), urged passengers not to carry huge amounts of cash to avoid being suspected by police and not to fall into the hands of criminals and thieves.

He advised people to adopt modern ways of money transfer via official channels followed by banks and currency exchange houses in the country.

Taxi driver's fare offer gives girl the fright of her life

The girl, a grade-eight student, said she took a taxi from the taxi rank near the front entrance of Dubai Festival City.

Dubai: A taxi driver told a young passenger he would take part-payment for the ride if she agreed to kiss him in lieu of the remainder of the fare — which came to Dh10.

The 13-year-old Uzbek girl told Gulf News that she had gone with a group of her friends to Dubai Festival City on Thursday.

"I went with my friend in his mother's car and she accompanied us," the little girl said.

The girl said she and her friends were regular visitors to Festival City, often going out to play and dine there on Thursdays and Fridays.

The girl, who lives in Sharjah, said she was at Festival City until around 10pm. "I told my friends I cannot stay longer as my mum said I had to come back home although my friends wanted me to stay," she said.

"I asked my friends, who are all of my age, with some being a year older or younger than me, to wait with me until I take a taxi home."

Number

The girl, a grade-eight student, said she took a taxi from the taxi rank near the front entrance of Dubai Festival City.

"I was not afraid and I thought it was safe for me to take a taxi from the mall," she said.

She said she took down the name of the taxi company and the cab number. She said she will approach the police to file a complaint.

She said the mother of her friend, who drove them down, had insisted she not return alone by taxi.

"I told her it is fine and I am used to that and my mum will wait for me near my house," she said.

The girl said when she reached home in Sharjah, her mother was waiting anxiously for her on the balcony of their flat.

"My friend's mother gave me Dh50 to pay for the taxi. I handed the driver the money but he took only Dh40 and he asked me to give him a kiss instead of the rest of Dh10," she said.

The girl said she almost froze in fear.

"I was scared to the point that I could not breath. It was around 11pm and no one was in the street around me," she said.

"I was sitting inside the car. I started screaming at the driver hysterically. I have no idea how I opened the door and started running home," she recalled. "I will never ever take a cab either alone or with friends."

The mother of the girl said they will report the matter to police in order to prevent recurrence of such incidents.

Dubai Metro gives boost to public transport in city

Dubai: Dubai Metro has given a boost to the public transport in Dubai as the number of passengers reached an average of 842,000 per day.

According to the statistics released by the Dubai Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) more than 288 million passengers used public transport including the Metro, buses and the marine transport (abra and water buses) in 2009.

"The number of passengers in 2010 is set to grow further with the opening of rest of the stations on the Red Line of the Metro," said Mattar Al Tayer, Chairman of the Board and Executive Director of the RTA. He hoped that only the Metro would carry more than 35 millon passengers this year as the users are increasing gradually.

He said the RTA was continuously working on its stratgegic plans to upgrade mass transit modes with a view to making them attractive for public. "The move is in line with our objective to increase the share of public transport users from 6 per cent in 2009 to 30 per cent in 2020," he added.

The RTA figures reveale that in 2009, public bus ridership hit 120 million persons with a daily ridership of 325,000 passengers. Marine transport system including traditional abras and the water bus carried around 17 million passengers.

Since its launch on September 9 till the end of February 2010, some 11.29 million passengers have already used the Metro with average daily ridership of 80,000 commuters. This number is likely to rise with the operation of several key metro stations such as Airport Terminal 1 Station, Karama Station, Trade Center Station and Ibn Battuta Station among others, on April 25.

The Metro ridership will further increase with the launching operation of the Green Line in August 2011 as it serves vital business district areas densely populated residential districts.

Taxi cabs in Dubai make an average of 192,000 trips every day, lifting about 385,000 persons. In 2009 taxi trips exceeded 70 million trips serving around 140.45 million passengers.

"The huge investments pumped by the Government of Dubai in developing the infrastructure of transport sector have proved successful and effective. The rising growth in the number of mass transport users illustrates the evolution of public transport culture among all segments of the community," said Al Tayer

Bill to tackle real estate inheritance

The minister did not say whether the law will provide for other steps for women's rights in the UAE.

Abu Dhabi: A federal law soon to start taking shape will further ensure organisation of the real-estate sector in the country, Minister of Justice Hadef Jua'an Al Daheri disclosed.

"Instructions have been issued to prepare a federal draft law to organise ownership and registration of real estate across the country," Al Daheri told the Federal National Council (FNC) on Tuesday.

At present, real estate is subject to local legislations in each emirate.

Al Daheri was responding to a question from Amer Abdul Jalil, an FNC member from Abu Dhabi, concerning children of an Emirati woman married to a foreigner being denied the right to register their inherited real estate.

The minister did not say whether the law will provide for other steps for women's rights in the UAE.

Emirati women married to foreigners are now entitled to get government housing even if their children do not have UAE citizenship, according to draft legislation pertaining to the Zayed Housing Programme recently approved by the FNC.

Women are denied the right to pass on citizenship to their husbands and children. But men can apply for citizenship for their foreign wives after five years of marriage, while their children are citizens from birth.

Children of Emirati mothers and foreign fathers have few privileges, like the legal right to residence, employment and government services such as free health and education.

The FNC doesn't legislate, it just reviews draft legislation which comes from the ministries. So draft legislation is sent from the ministry to the FNC, then this draft legislation, depending on the subject of the legislation, is sent to the relevant parliamentary committee. The committee studies the draft, amends and introduces new clauses, and either recommends or rejects the draft law. The committee's proposal on the draft legislation is then presented in the FNC for it to debate and take a final decision.

Najla Al Awadi, a member from Dubai, said women still have major hurdles, particularly in terms of reforming the mindset that an Emirati woman who marries a non-Emirati man forfeits her right as a citizen.

"A mindset that applies a hypocritical, double standard, judging women so harshly and not applying any such judgement on an Emirati man who marries a non-Emirati woman, because by virtue of his gender he is above any such judgement," Najla said.