NEWS FROM THE UAE
SOURCE : THE NATIONAL

Butchery counter closed after third hygiene breach

ABU DHABI - JUL 13: The fresh-meat counter at a branch of the LuLu supermarket chain was closed for three days after failing its third hygiene inspection in 12 months, a food standards official confirmed yesterday.

The butchery department at the LuLu supermarket in Al Wahda Mall was closed on the orders of the Abu Dhabi Food Control Authority, which carried out an inspection at the store last Wednesday.

Abdellatif Eldaw Yousif, the manager of the specialised inspection team at the authority, said no one had fallen ill as a result of the food-safety breaches.

He said that in the last year, two other violations of food hygiene standards had been observed at the store, part of one of the UAE’s most popular food retail chains. The authority did not say exactly what the hygiene violations were.

“We do not close down a premises the first time they fail an inspection. We will give them a warning, but if they fail again and again, then we will close them,” Mr Yousif said.

“They have some history of this. This is the third time this year they have failed inspections.

“The inspection was carried out at around 7am on Wednesday. We found a situation that was not satisfactory and so we took action,” he said. “Nobody got sick as a result of the situation at the supermarket. It was part of a routine set of inspections.”

The fresh-meat section was closed from Thursday to Saturday, and notices were displayed on food counters. It reopened yesterday.

A LuLu spokesman declined to answer questions from The National about the violations and closure.

Shoppers at the store expressed their shock at the news.

“I had no idea about this incident. It is not fair that people are not told about these kind of things,” said Noha Tahan, 45. “I am certainly not going to buy meat from here. I wouldn’t want to take any chances with the health of my family.”

Um Shadi, 37, said: “I am cutting down on meat at the moment anyway. I don’t plan to start eating meat for a while. I have heard of this happening at other supermarkets in Abu Dhabi.

“I think it is a good idea that the authorities are being hard on the supermarkets. Usually the standards of food hygiene in this country are pretty good.”

A shopper who identified herself only as Aline, 40, said: “I am glad that you told me about the fact it had been closed.

“I usually buy meat from the LuLu in Khalidiya, but I was passing by here today so I thought I would come to this store instead. I will not be buying any meat from here today. If they don’t change the staff, then I doubt I will be buying anything from that counter any time soon.”

Sleeping drivers are to blame for many road accidents, say police

ABU DHABI - JUL 13: Drivers who fall asleep at the wheel are the cause of a large percentage of the accidents on Al Gharbia’s roads, the region’s traffic head said yesterday.

So far this year, 54 accidents have been recorded in which the driver veered off the road. Police said that, in some circumstances, the drivers failed to remember the circumstances of the accident.

Major Ahmed al Shamsi, the director of the region’s traffic police department, said lorry drivers who failed to take enough stops were one of the primary causes of such collisions.

“Lots of the accidents between trucks and small vehicles are from not having a good time for rest,” he said, adding that drivers were continuing on the road “without thinking that the body needs some rest”.

Although lorry drivers in Europe and the US face obligatory rest stops and limits on the hours they drive, the UAE has no such restrictions.

Professor Andrew Parkes, the chief scientist at the British Transport Research Laboratory, said: “Sometimes you drive and you know that you are very tired but you don’t really know quite how close you are to actually falling asleep.

“Obviously people make that mistake and that’s why you have so many of these fatigue-related collisions.”

Hopping around the creek

The air-conditioned water bus service is designed to carry 36 people and will run from 9am to 11.30pm. Randi Sokoloff / The National

DUBAI - JUL 13: Something that promises to give tourist transport a lift is taking shape on Dubai Creek.

For some weeks, the city has been testing a hop-on, hop-off water bus service that is expected to be in full swing by the time the new Metro opens in September.

The trial runs have been low-key, with only about 10 passengers hopping on and off each day.

But Mohammed Obaid al Mulla, the chief executive of the Roads and Transport Authority’s marine agency, believes passenger numbers will increase after a marketing campaign next month and once the first Dubai Metro line opens.

“We are still testing it, but it will get busier,” Mr al Mulla said of the boat service. “It is also connected to two of the Metro stations, so after[the Metro opens], we’ll expect a lot more customers.”

The air-conditioned water bus is designed to carry up to 36 passengers at a time and stop at five stations along the creek. While residents will be able to use the water bus, it is expected to be used more as a tourist taxi, allowing visitors to hop on and off near the Creek’s attractions.

The first bus is scheduled to leave Al Shandagha Station in the Heritage Village at 9am, and the last one to leave Creek Park Station for Al Shandagha Station at 11.30pm. Throughout the day, passengers will be able to board at Deira Old Souk, Al Seef and Bur Dubai stations every hour and a half.

“Tourists can buy a ticket and use the boats to get to some of the best parts of Dubai,” Mr al Mulla said.

The water bus, which stops next to the Gold Souk and the Heritage Village, docks for 10 minutes and runs at 90-minute intervals. The fare of Dh50 for adults and Dh25 for children is valid for an unlimited number of trips through the day, from 9am to midnight.
Tourists braving the midday sun on Saturday said they were unaware of the service but liked the idea.

“I would not mind doing that. We are getting taxis everywhere but we did get an abra across the creek this morning,” said Steve Ray from the UK, referring to the traditional craft used on the Creek. “We have just walked around the Gold Souk, and we really don’t know what or where we are going to go now.

“If we had done some more research we would know what to do next, but the water bus idea seems like it would take all the hassle from that.”

Tourists waiting to take abras across the creek at Bur Dubai Station also said the water bus was a good idea, but they wondered about the price.

“If I can pay Dh2 to get to the other side of the creek, why should I pay Dh50 to go to four other stations?” said Matthew Carey, also from the UK.

Dubai already has several water bus routes, including the Dh4 ride between Creek Park and Bur Dubai stations via Al Seef Station. That service runs every hour, and the full trip lasts 25 minutes.

But the hop-on, hop-off scheme is a new dimension: by linking up with abras, the Metro and street buses, it is meant to give tourists options beyond taxis.

Taxi drivers who were asked for their reaction were not thrilled at the prospect of additional competition but put on a brave face, saying the fare for the water bus was too high to pose a significant threat to their business.

“It may be better for tourists because they don’t have to sit in the traffic in that part of town. It is also very expensive,” said Mohammad Iqbal from Pakistan, who has been driving in the city for the last five years.

If taxi drivers feel slighted when the service is up and running, there should also be clear winners.

Bur Dubai Station is in one of the city’s busiest tourist spots and is close to Al Saeediya Metro Station.

“There are always lots of tourists around here all of the time,” said Joy Segovia, from the Philippines, who runs a souvenir stall next to Bur Dubai Station. “There is no let-up in the number of tourists and customers, but if there are more services bringing more people here, it will benefit us.”

The manager of a restaurant opposite the Old Souk Station, who declined to give his name, said the service would bring more people to the restaurant, especially if they missed the boat. “But they may just take another abra. It depends where they want to go,” he said. “I think it should be good for tourists, who will now have an extra thing to do or see.”

There is not much for tourists at Al Seef Station, but it can provide a connection to the Burjuman shopping centre, where there will be a Metro station when the rail service launches.

Creek Park is more popular with residents than with tourists, but Pradeep Bhatia, a Dubai resident from India, said reaching the park from the station was easy.

“I park here most days and use the water bus to get to the other side of the creek,” he said on the jetty of the Creek Park Station. “I always bring my family down here in the winter, and if [the water bus] is promoted properly, maybe tourists would take a picnic with them and spend time in the park.”

Mr Bhatia also said the water bus service would be good for residents who have friends visiting because they would be able to buy the ticket and not worry about city traffic and parking.

How the water buses compete with land buses remains to be seen.

“We’ve taken the hop-on, hop-off bus tour yesterday, which took us to everywhere we wanted to go to,” said David Creegan from the US, who was in Dubai on a working holiday. “The only problem was traffic, but the boats can’t go to the malls and some of the other destinations here.

“When the Metro opens, I suppose it would be a lot easier to get around without using the roads, and I’d imagine it would be more relaxing to travel by water.”

Customs inspectors catch ‘mules’ with Dh11,000 of heroin

Dubai - JUL 13: Two people have been arrested in separate incidents at Dubai International Airport after being caught with heroin hidden inside their bodies.

In the first case, Customs inspectors at Terminal Two noticed an Asian man who seemed reluctant to pick up his luggage. He was stopped and although a search of his bags revealed nothing out of the ordinary, an X-ray of his stomach showed 50 capsules of what turned out to be heroin.

The second suspect was also caught at Terminal Two, after his nervous body language alerted inspectors, Customs said. He had swallowed 30 capsules of heroin.

In total, the two seizures amounted to about 500g of the drug, worth US$3,000 to US$4,500 (Dh11,000 to Dh16,500), according to figures from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime.

Customs officials would not say where the men had flown from, but among other destinations, Terminal Two handles charter and scheduled flights to and from Afghanistan, where most of the world’s heroin originates.

The arrests came in the past two weeks.

Ali al Mugahwi, the director of passenger operations at Dubai Customs, said increasing numbers of people, known as “mules”, were being caught smuggling drugs in their stomachs, but he did not have details on the number of cases passed on to Dubai Police.

“It is more common than it used to be. These people are not carrying drugs for themselves – they are paid to carry it for someone else.”

He said that some mules were caught transferring directly between flights, while others were paid to bring the drugs to people in Dubai, where they would be stored and shipped out of the country at a later date.

“We work very closely with the police on these cases,” he added.

Earlier this year, a report by the UN’s International Narcotics Control Board said the UAE had become “a major exporting and trans-shipping area” for drugs such as heroin and amphetamines, which are manufactured in Asia and sold on the streets of Europe and the US.

Mr al Mugahwi said his staff were using a combination of technology and psychology to intercept drug shipments.

“Our inspectors are very well trained in how to spot these criminals and they are committed to catching them.

“We do not sleep, we are always ready, and we will catch anyone trying to do this,” he warned. “We will not allow drugs to come through – it is very important for the security of the country that we stop this trade.”