First inmates transferred as part of UAE-UK prisoner swap deal

The Prisoner Transfer Agreement (PTA) between the two nations was signed on January 24 as part of ongoing efforts for closer cooperation on consular issues.

British Navy sailor Timmy MacColl, pictured with his wife Rachael, was last seen leaving a nighclub in Bur Dubai in May last year. Courtesy of MacColl family

ABU DHABI // The first inmates have been transferred as part of a prisoner swap deal with Britain.

The agreement allows Emiratis jailed in the UK and Britons in prison in the UAE to serve the remainder of their sentences at home.

The deal was signed on January 24 as part of ongoing efforts for closer cooperation on consular issues.

"The transfer of prisoners is working very well and this is a very positive indicator of our relationship," said Dr Anwar Gargash, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs.

"The agreement works well and supports both our judicial systems. We have had a couple of cases where prisoners have already been transferred."

Dr Gargash did not give details of how many prisoners, their crimes or when they were transferred.

A prisoner can only benefit from the deal if their offence is recognised as a crime in both countries, known as reciprocity. This means that bouncing a cheque - a criminal offence in the UAE but not in the UK - is not covered.

"There must be reciprocity in the crimes - the crimes have to be recognised in the two jurisdictions," said Edward Hobart, the UK's consul general to Dubai.

"It can cover any prisoner where there is a reciprocal crime, so theft in one country is theft in the other country."

Dr Gargash commended his counterpart Alistair Burt, the British foreign office's Middle East minister, over the combined efforts to reach the agreement.

Mr Burt said he was happy that British officials could now openly discuss the "very small number of consular cases" with authorities in the UAE, a move that described as "very important".

Both men confirmed, during a meeting of the UK-UAE Taskforce on Tuesday, that the UAE and UK were still in high-level talks over missing British Royal Navy sailor Timmy MacColl, who disappeared in Dubai on May 27 last year.

Dr Gargash described the case as a high-profile issue and Mr Burt said Mr MacColl's disappearance was among a range of topics discussed, along with defence, security and consular relations.

"There is a very large British community of 100,000-plus and we are bound to have certain issues, accidents and so forth and, of course, these are dealt with, but some of these become high-profile cases," Dr Gargash said.

"They definitely are being discussed and this issue of Timothy MacColl is a high-profile one."

Mr Burt said: "I met the family involved and they are appreciating the help provided by Dubai Police and the cooperation with the authorities here in the UAE."

Mr MacColl, who was 27 when he went missing, was on a night out with shipmates at the Rock Bottom Cafe in the Regent Palace Hotel, Bur Dubai.

He got in a taxi just after 2am and set off towards Port Rashid, where his ship, the HMS Westminster, had docked the previous day. He never reached the vessel.

Despite an intensive investigation led by Dubai Police, searches of the port by British Navy divers and months of campaigning and appeals for information, no trace of him has been found.