Mayur's Posterous

gulfnews : Three arrested for offering VoIP services

Police said the three men from Bur Dubai, Satwa and Hor Al Anz, were offering illegal international calls using IP technology. The suspects allegedly charged 50 fils per minute for the calls and used their apartments to sell the service.

Lieutenant Colonel Salim Al Rumaithi, Deputy Director of the Criminal Investigation General Department of Dubai Police, said police received a tip-off last month about three suspects allegedly offering international phone calls at a cheap price.

"These types of crimes are very serious, and according to the tip-off the department organised a team to investigate the case," said Major Salah Bu Aseeba, Director of the Department of Economic Crimes at Dubai Police.

On the same day the tip-off was received, police said they organised three teams to raid the three locations and arrest the suspects. A.B. was picked up from the Hamdan area, M.A. from Hor Al Anz and M.A. from Satwa, police said. A search of their apartments yielded multiple mobile phones and wireless communication equipment and computers.

All three confessed to illegally operating voice-over internet protocol channels and were handed to the authorities for further procedures, police said.

Brigadier Khalil Ebrahim Al Mansouri, Director General of the General Department for Criminal Investigation, said that these types of crimes caused a lot of damage to telecom providers, intellectual copyright, and the country's economy.

 

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gulfnews : UAE petrol prices to rise for third time in a year after Eid

UAE petrol prices to rise for third time in a year after Eid

Next price hike on petrol prices in UAE wll include diesel, Special and E-plus fuel, according to sources from Adnoc


Petrol prices

Abu Dhabi: Petrol prices in the UAE are set to rise a third time this year. Sources from oil company Adnoc told Gulf News that the fuel distribution companies are about to increase price on fuel.

The source, who wanted to remain anonymous, added that the increase includes Special, E-plus and Diesel and will become effective "a few weeks after Eid holiday."

Gulf News reported three months ago that price increases on petrol will take place in three stages before the end of the year 2010. This will become the third increase. A senior person at Adnoc told Gulf News that the company refuses to impose additional increases to not provoke people who "already suffer from high and unreasonable prices" after the second increase of last month.

Significant pressure

However, he said that Adnoc is subject to significant pressure from supplier such as Enoc, Epco and others who are requesting another increase to be effective immediately.

The source added that in private meetings of the boards of directors of the fuel suppliers it turned out that they fear to report significant losses if the prices remain at the current levels. Gulf News learnt that the increase will be 20 fils per litre. This means that the cost of Special fuel will increase from Dh1.72 to Dh1.92 per litre.

The price of E-plus will increase from Dh1.61 to Dh1.81. Diesel will increase from Dh2,35 to Dh2,55 per litre.

The source said that the all three fuel companies are lobbying for the petrol price to reach up to Dh2,50 by the end of the year. The tactic, he said, is to impose sudden changes at different stages after having implemented three increases already. However the decision to rise prices further will depend on the consumers' reaction to the third increase.

The respective companies refused to comment on the issue.

Gulf News surveyed a number of Emiratis who expressed extreme dissatisfaction with the increases which they felt being "dramatic". They unanimously stated that the price of oil in the UAE is now double than in any other country in the GCC.

"I travelled with my friends to Saudi Arabia last week and filled the tank of a car with a six-cylinder engine for about Dh 85, the same would cost about Dh155 in the UAE," Khalid Al Hammadi said.

"I travelled to Qatar via Saudi Arabia and filled my eight-cylinder four wheel drive for Dh120, which would be about Dh210 in the UAE," Adel Ahmad said. "I travelled to the United States in the summer vacation in July, I rented a six cylinder caravan, filled the tank for Dh145, which would be about Dh200 in the UAE," said Khalid Ahmad Al Hammadi.

Just when I think I have saved enough to purchase a spanking new Range Rover for myself :/

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