Day: September 3, 2021

ABU DHABI, Abu Dhabi Police (ADP) and its partners have smashed a drug trafficking ring comprising 142 members of various nationalities and seized 816kg of narcotic substances.

Brigadier Taher Al Dhaheri, Director of the Anti-Narcotics Directorate of APD’s Criminal Security Sector, said that the anti-narcotics men monitored random messages sent through a social media platform containing pictures, videos and audio messages to promote drugs and claiming their ability to deliver these illegal substances anywhere in the country.

The gang leaders used international phone numbers to spread propaganda randomly to promote narcotic substances, he explained.

After launching a search and investigation, the anti-narcotics officers nabbed the drug peddlers when they were trying to place the drugs in separate locations for delivery, he said.

Abu Dhabi Police dealt a painful blow to the drug traffickers and distributors, catching them red-handed and referred them to the judiciary for trial, he added.

He urged the public, in case they received messages promoting narcotic substances, not to deal with them in any way. They should block the number and immediately report it to the Aman service on the number 8002626.

Source: Emirates News Agency

DUBAI, Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) has launched the Green Summer competition as part of ‘Let’s Make This Summer Green’ campaign.

DEWA launched this campaign for the sixth consecutive year in June 2021, under the theme ‘create memories that last forever’.

The competition encourages all community members to adopt a responsible and sustainable lifestyle in an interactive and entertaining way. Participants can log into their DEWA account on the smart app and complete three levels to enter the final raffle draw for valuable prizes. The winners will be announced in end of September 2021.

Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer, MD & CEO of DEWA, highlighted DEWA’s efforts to ensure a brighter future for future generations in a safe and sustainable environment. DEWA provides multiple tools, smart services and conservation tips to implement Dubai’s strategies for protecting the environment, aligned to the Demand Side Management Strategy, which aims to reduce 30 percent of electricity and water demand by 2030.

“DEWA follows a comprehensive strategy to creatively and effectively include all society members in the conservation of natural resources, as well as promoting healthy competition. We aim to build a sustainable heritage, for not only infrastructure and sustainable services, but also sustainable practices to mitigate climate change,” added Al Tayer.

“Throughout the year, DEWA launches innovative initiatives with motivational prizes so our customers can reduce consumption. Our programmes and initiatives between 2011 and 2020 have achieved cumulative savings within target groups amounting to 2.44 TWh of electricity and 6.7 billion gallons of water, equivalent to saving AED 1.35 billion, and reduction of 1.22 million tons of CO2 emissions,” said Khawla Al Mehairi, Executive Vice President of Strategy and Government Communications at DEWA.

The ‘Let’s Make This Summer Green’ campaign highlights DEWA’s ‘Smart Living’ initiative, for customers to monitor their consumption independently, simply by logging into their DEWA accounts on the website or smart app, check their data dashboard to monitor consumption, know more about residential customer tariff slabs, get conservation tips, and develop their conservation plans. Customers also benefit from the ‘My Sustainable Living’ programme to compare their consumption with similar homes, or purchase energy and water-saving devices from DEWA Store.

DEWA provides many conservation tips on its website, smart app, official social media, internal and external channels.

Customers in the residential, commercial, industrial, and governmental sectors can get a copy of the ‘Handbook of Electricity and Water Conservation Measures’ to learn about technologies to conserve electricity and water.

Source: Emirates News Agency

ABU DHABI, The UAE has strongly condemned and denounced the terrorist Houthi militia’s systematic attempts to target civilians and civilian sites in Saudi Arabia’s city of Khamis Mushait with an explosive-laden drone, which was intercepted and destroyed by the Coalition Forces.

In a statement released by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, the UAE said the continuous terrorist attacks by the Houthi militia reflect its blatant disregard for the international community and all international laws and norms.

The Ministry also urged the international community to take an immediate and decisive stance to stop these recurrent acts, which target critical infrastructure and threaten the security and stability of the Kingdom, as well as global energy supplies, stressing that the continued threat of these attacks in recent days is a grave escalation that represents new evidence of this militia’s attempts to undermine security and stability in the region.

It also renewed the UAE’s full solidarity with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia against these terrorist acts and its unwavering commitment to opposing any threat to its security and stability, confirming its support for any measures the Kingdom may take to preserve the safety of its citizens and residents.

“The security of the United Arab Emirates and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is indivisible, and any threat facing the Kingdom is considered a threat to the UAE’s security and stability,” the Ministry concluded.

Source: Emirates News Agency

ABU DHABI, The UAE Ministry of Interior has called upon the media not to circulate or disseminate any information not published by the relevant authorities, explaining that the deportation of African workers was carried out in accordance with legal procedures.

Moreover, this was based on conclusive and documented evidence that these organisations, which are prostitution networks, were involved in human trafficking offences, indecent acts, and extortion and assault cases that threaten the security of society.

The Ministry noted in a statement that many complaints have been received in the region about the issue of the arrest, detention, and deportation of African workers.

In this regard, the Ministry wishes to clarify that the arrests that took place on June 24 and 25 involving 376 women and men were carried out as part of legal procedures to address crimes related to human trafficking and cases of harm to women and extortion, assault, and acts contrary to public morality.

Those arrested were found to be involved in these crimes, as the UAE was proactive in enacting a comprehensive law to combat human trafficking and preserve the rights of all groups of society in a way that protects victims and punishes violators of their rights while deterring those who commit such crimes.

The UAE takes these crimes seriously and responsibly in order to protect society and victims from these crimes, stressing that the measures taken were in accordance with international legal standards and coordinated with the embassies of the countries to which those involved belong.

The statement noted that the necessary precautionary measures were adopted in accordance with the COVID-19 pandemic with regards to social distancing and the regular testing of detainees in order to provide all forms of support to detainees to ensure their physical and psychological safety.

Moreover, the detainees and the mechanism of dealing with them and the charges against them were reviewed by ambassadors of friendly countries concerned with the detainees, noting that a large number of them were deported, with the remaining 50 individuals lacking the appropriate travel documents.

The statement stressed that the UAE and its institutions are committed to full transparency in dealing with these issues, noting that they are surprised that the authors of the report and that which was circulated by the media did not refer to the relevant authorities in the country to investigate the accuracy of the matter.

International organisations following the issue should have communicated with the relevant authorities, as these allegations were inconsistent with the legal foundations of the UAE’s criminal justice system, and UAE legislation is based on justice, equality and the preservation of human dignity.

Moreover, the Ministry categorically denied the report’s racist suggestions, stressing that the UAE adopts strict laws and practices with regards to non-discrimination in all cases.

Source: Emirates News Agency

DUBAI, His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai, announced on Friday the five best and five worst government entities in terms of digital services, giving the latter a time-bound grace period of 90 days to improve their performance.

“Brothers and sisters, we directed 3 months ago to evaluate the government’s digital services… After polling 55,000 customers about their opinion of the services of 30 government agencies, we enclose the top five and the five worst government agencies,” Sheikh Mohammed tweeted today “To ensure transparency and provide efficient digital services within the UAE government, we conducted a survey to classify the five best and worst government entities. We aim to establish a digital government that keeps pace with global trends.”

He added, “Continuous assessment is the basis of the constant development methodology adopted by the UAE. Feedback is the real barometer upon which we assess the performance of the federal government and ensure their efficiency and how far their customers have efficient access to their services anytime and anywhere,” Sheikh Mohammed added while announcing the results of a holistic assessment he launched in June 2021 that covers more than 1300 digital services provided by ministries and federal government departments.

“We give 90 days an opportunity to improve services, after which we will re-evaluate the worst parties to make a decision,” he explained.

“The departments which are excelling themselves deserve our acclaim and we expect more from them in order to achieve our ultimate goal of making the UAE government the best globally in terms of provision of services. We aspire to reach 90 percent of customer satisfaction. And we are confident our government teams are capable of achieving this target in the most efficient manners and at the fastest time possible,” Sheikh Mohammed said.

“Underperforming departments are expected to amend their courses and achieve the best possible results within 90 days, by which time we will re-assess their performance in a way that ensures achievement of our main goal, namely whole-of-government digitisation,” he added.

After a survey of 30 government departments based on a poll comprising 55,000 respondents, the results are as follows: UAE’s best government entities: 1- Ministry of Interior.

2- Federal Authority for Identity and Citizenship (ICA).

3- Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation.

4- Ministry of Climate Change and Environment.

5- Ministry of Community Development.

UAE’s worst underperforming government: 1- Ministry of Education.

2- Federal Tax Authority.

3- Securities and Commodities Authority.

4- General Pension and Social Security Authority.

5- Ministry of Energy and Infrastructure

Source: Emirates News Agency