DUBAI // Three British citizens arrested while observing planes near Fujairah airport are likely to be moved to Abu Dhabi in the next few days.
Plane-spotting hobbyists Conrad Clitheroe, 54, Gary Cooper, 45, and Neil Munro were arrested for reasons of national security on February 22 when they were found taking notes about planes near the airport.
Currently, the three men have been placed in a cell with 20 other prisoners in Fujairah jail.
“We’ve been told that they may be moved this week or the next to Abu Dhabi,” said Mr Clitheroe’s wife Valerie, from Manchester, who spoke to her husband on Tuesday.
She continues to be worried about his health since he no longer has medication required for a heart condition and high blood pressure.
“A doctor has seen him in prison and given him some tablets but it’s not the same as he usually takes and he is missing one table that he takes every day. He sounded really low, fed up and sad and wanted to find out what was happening about the case. He was worried about how much it would cost.”
Legal fees would amount to £4,500 (Dh25,300) per person, she said.
“We’ve got a little bit of savings and will have to use that but we will also need to borrow money,” Mrs Clitheroe said.
The men have also asked relatives if reading material could be sent to them.
A clerk at a Manchester logistics firm, Mr Clitheroe travelled with Mr Cooper to Dubai on February 18 on a tourist visa.
They stayed in a Dubai hotel for two nights and then with former colleague Neil Munro, a Dubai resident. The three men travelled to Fujairah to see older and rarer aircraft on February 21 and were detained that evening by police.
Mr Clitheroe and Mr Cooper were due to return home on February 22, the day of their arrest.
Radha Stirling, founder of Detained in Dubai, a non-profit group that has taken up their case, said news that the men would be transferred to Abu Dhabi meant they may be held for longer.
“The Foreign & Commonwealth Office (FCO) UK have advised that authorities in the UAE said that they would move the men to Abu Dhabi either this week or next, confirming that they will clearly be detained for longer,” she said.
The group has arranged for a lawyer to meet the men to expedite their release.
The men had earlier told relatives that they did not take any photographs of planes near Fujairah airport since they were aware it was not permitted.
When police examined the men’s belongings, they had found iPads, phones and cameras but not photographs, Ms Stirling said.
Plane spotters take photographs, make notes of registration numbers of aircraft and helicopters and compile the markings and logos.
Plane-spotting websites warn hobbyists that they could run into trouble if they take photographs at airports in the UAE, ranging from police checks, seizure of equipment or imprisonment.
rtalwar@thenational.ae
