14 July 2008

Dubai police in beach clean up

DUBAI - Dubai Police are continuing their crackdown on public displays of intimacy, arresting 79 people at local beaches.

The police say they are taking action against those who violate decency rules and public manners, as well as to protect beach goers and preserve their privacy.

Local media reported that the police are urging people who witness lewd or indecent act in public to immediately ring them on a special Ã¢â¬Åâœnaughty behaviourÃ¢â¬~ hotline.

A letter writer to Time Out Dubai complained that Ã¢â¬Åâœcertain estate agents in Dubai attempt to sell flats through ladies dressed in short beach dressesÃ¢â¬~.

The lady writer then asked, Ã¢â¬ÅâœHas anyone come across a man trying to sell a flat by dressing in beach trunks?Ã¢â¬~

Dubai police have also arrested five people who were working as tourist guides without a licence.

Major General Khamis Mattar Al Mazeina, acting chief of Dubai Police, said the campaigns against people luring tourists also resulted in the arrest of 10 infiltrators who organised desert safaris for tourists.

The police chief said the tourist security department monitored some people who used their private vehicles to transfer tourists from hotels and spas and organised tourist trips for them in agreement with some employees at those places for a commission.

He said such crimes disadvantaged tourism companies as well as the tourists because safari vehicles were fully equipped for the desert and the guides were well qualified.