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29 September, 2006

Seven star shootout

Great excitement in the sandlands today, with an alleged fatal shoot out at the Burj Al Arab:

DUBAI - A Russian millionaire was killed in an alleged shootout, while another man was seriously injured in the incident that took place at the Burj Al Arab Hotel here in the small hours yesterday.

The victims, according to a hotel source, were guests. Unconfirmed reports said the millionaire was staying in one of the suites. Two men, known to him, entered his suite and shot him dead in the course of a drunken brawl, these reports said.


But more thrilling than the actual report has been a day of vanishing stories and changing details, as well as various unprintable information arriving from various sources. A brief timeline:

Thursday am - KT prints the above story
Thursday midday - KT removes the story from its site
Thursday afternoon - KT publishes another story, claiming a Syrian, not Russian, died
Thursday afternoon - KT pulls that story too
Friday early morning - 7Days prints a more detailed account

This time there's no gun, and no Russian millionaire, but the details - of a fatal diamond heist - are even more gruesome:

"The Russian men were really big and banged Rhami’s and Illiyas’s heads together literally. Illyas’ head has swollen and has almost doubled in size,” the friend added.

The Burj needed something like this, it was getting a bit faded and old-hat. Now its drama and mystique are back. The world's most expensive - and the world's most thrilling - hotel.

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23 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

russian thugs killing each other...dubai is a favorite r&r place for people invlove in shady businesses. couple years ago an indian don was shot infront of the indian social club.

28 September, 2006 14:39  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

(Yawn) In the USA thare are hundreds of gang killings every week. In Iraq the 2 main 'gangs' are car bombing each other. Yet again Dubai fails to cut the mustard. Dissapointing: 2/10.

28 September, 2006 15:15  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

"Shady-Business" ...not only for Russians, check out the U.S. private military companies (www.corpwatch.org) that operate in the Middle East with offices in the sandlands, their "corporate footprint" is amazing: chinese prostitures in Afghanistan, minor abuse in Kosovo, drug abuse in Colombia, money laundry in ...etc..

28 September, 2006 15:16  
Blogger marwan said...

This warrants another star for the Burj, I reckon. I can see the billboards now: Bullet sandwiches, served piping hot only at the Burj.

Who needs Monopoly Dubai? Coming soon - Cluedo, Burj-Al-Arab edition.

28 September, 2006 15:25  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Is this the same crime ?

http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticleNew.asp?col=§ion=theuae&xfile=data/theuae/2006/September/theuae_September943.xml

28 September, 2006 15:34  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

One killed in attack at Burj Al Arab
(By a staff reporter)

28 September 2006



DUBAI - Two Syrian men were violently attacked on Tuesday night in a suite at the world renowned Burj Al Arab. They were alleged to have been invited to the hotel by a guest.

Three men of a different nationality are alleged to have been involved in a vicious assault on the two Syrians which resulted in the death of twenty four year old Rhami and left his colleague with multiple fractures. The motive for the crime appears to be the theft of jewellery. It is reported that the three attackers fled the hotel and have as yet to be apprehended.




from here

28 September, 2006 15:36  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

looks like ramadan is really getting to some of our bros working in the censorship dept. All that fatigue and headaches ;-)

Heads are gonna roll in there..... he he he

- DD

28 September, 2006 16:01  
Blogger marwan said...

"Now it seems to be a dead Syrian in a jewellery heist".

Rats. It sounded so much cooler when it was a Russian mafia hit, ala Bourne Supremacy.

28 September, 2006 19:26  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Are they playing with proxy or they really unblocked many sites?

28 September, 2006 22:04  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

youtube unblocked
hi5 unblocked
myspace unblocked

still continue to be blocked:
flickr
skype

29 September, 2006 03:36  
Blogger Fin Stawler said...

russian mafia.

29 September, 2006 07:17  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

yafro still blocked.

29 September, 2006 11:37  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

myspace still blocked - can open it but not check messages/look at blogs

29 September, 2006 13:23  
Blogger al-republican said...

I fear this is the beginning of some real problems in Dubai. Hopefully the authorities here can be vigilant enough to prevent such crimes.

SD, I am trying to address a few serious posts on the underlying differences between the West and the World of Islam. I would like you to take a look as well (and anybody else who is interested). It is a sincere effort in trying to educate myself as well as others on the 2 cultures.

I look forward to reading all of your comments.

http://al-republican.blogspot.com

Cheers!

29 September, 2006 15:09  
Blogger marwan said...

Gad, something doesn't smell right about this at all, as you've pointed out in the updated post.

I really doubt the Russian Mafia would expose themselves this publicly for the sake of a mere 265k.

What happened to the jewellery at the centre of all this? No reports on who has it now. I have my doubts if the jewels even existed in the first place. After all, if I was doing a deal like this, Burj or no Burj, I'd take more backup than one dude, *especially* if I was dealing with Russians.
And I'd certainly not conduct it on turf secured by the buyers.

29 September, 2006 16:36  
Blogger marwan said...

Also - nobody would mention a shootout unless bullets were found/heard whizzing around. There's no way you can mistake the sounds of gunfight for a fatal beating.

29 September, 2006 16:37  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

its organised crime

29 September, 2006 19:37  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

SD-

Off topic, but I wish this article had been published earlier. It is to do with Ramadhan (written as Ramazan in the article).

Try going through it and you might understand a few things about it.

Al-Republican

30 September, 2006 01:16  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Oops, forgot the link! hehe..


article

30 September, 2006 01:18  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

this has absolutely no relevance to your post but i just thought u'd want to know...

etisalat unblocked :D youtube, flickr and metacafe

30 September, 2006 02:19  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

" Anonymous said...
etisalat unblocked :D youtube, flickr and metacafe"

Nope, sorry to disappoint you but flickr is still blocked.

30 September, 2006 12:49  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I hope the ghosts of the dead thugs and "businessmen" haunt the burj al arab and scare away all the people staying there.. in fact it'd be really cool if the flying dutchman surfaced next to the burj and blow it up with cannonfire

01 October, 2006 12:22  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

"Nope, sorry to disappoint you but flickr is still blocked."

check it right now ;)

01 October, 2006 15:10  

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