Two men caught attempting to board a flight to the United Kingdom using fake British passports have been jailed for six months.
The pair, from Afghanistan, were arrested at Dubai International Airport after a British Airways employee grew suspicious of their documents.
The men told authorities they had flown into the UAE to purchase the fake passports from a Pakistani forger.
Detectives investigating the case were able to identify the contact and arrest him. He was found in possession of three other fake British passports.
“We are friends and wanted to travel to the UK but Afghans don’t get visas,” one of the defendants told Dubai Criminal Court.
“The man said to fly to Dubai and meet him at the airport’s Costa coffee shop. Once we landed, he’d hand us the fake passports, which he did.”
The exchange happened on February 27 this year with the two men, aged 27 and 30, each paying $20,000 for the fake passports.
The forgeries contained UAE residency stamps in an effort to assist with the deception but airline staff were still able to spot them as fakes.
Police later arrested a 32-year-old Pakistani man as he attempted to board a flight back to Pakistan.
Officers were aware an individual was flying into the country to sell fake passports after arresting three Afghan women with counterfeit documents two weeks beforehand.
“He admitted forging five passports; the two seized with the defendants and three others which he said he was supposed to hand to three customers who stood him up at the airport,” prosecutors told the court.
“He came to the county that same day for the only purpose of delivering the fake passports, and he then tried to leave Dubai the same day.”
Police discovered the man held a genuine UK passport and often flew to Dubai to sell on bogus documents, mostly to Afghan customers.
“Two weeks prior to this incident, three Afghan women carrying fake UK passports were arrested at the airport,” an Emirati policeman told the hearing. “They told us about the man so we kept him on our radar.”
The two Afghans were ordered to be deported after serving their sentences. The third man, the forger, also received a six month sentence.
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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
Guide to intelligent investing
- Stay invested: Time in the market, not timing the market, is critical to long-term gains.
- Rational thinking: Breathe and avoid emotional decision-making; let logic and planning guide your actions.
- Strategic patience: Understand why you’re investing and allow time for your strategies to unfold.
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