Word: dubai
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...appearances in this part of the world can be deceptive. Ostentation attracts envy - and trouble. It turns out this merchant, Haji Amanullah, and his brothers are very rich and very famous around these parts. They live in a 130-room palace outside Chaman and have offices in Tokyo, Dubai, Quetta and Karachi. He's going to Paris next week to buy lots of tires, and he mentions the name of his hotel on the Champs Elysee. "Rooms in that hotel are $1,500 a night," Jerome, the other photographer, whispers to me. The merchant goes there because he likes...
That good fortune arose when United Arab Emirates police detained Beghal as he transited the Dubai airport - using a fake passport - during a trip from Pakistan to France. A veteran of Afghan training camps, where he received direction from members of bin Laden?s inner circle, Beghal was sought by France as a suspected organizer of Muslim extremists in Europe - suspicions confirmed by Beghal himself. French authorities say police in Dubai apparently assign an Islamic spiritual adviser to captured terrorists to cite and discuss Koranic texts condemning murderous acts as a violation of Islam. Over time, the messages may break...
...move money to New York, for instance, Ali will accept payment in Indian rupees from a client in Delhi. Then he'll call associates in Dubai, who in turn contact their man in New York. The client in Delhi is given a code, usually the numbers from a currency note, which is passed on to the recipient. When the phone rings in New York, both messenger and recipient will read back alternate digits from the password. Identity thus established, the recipient will be paid in dollars...
...industry's hub is the oil emirate of Dubai, home to many gangsters from both India and Pakistan who maintain legitimate enterprises there but also operate hawala networks. Dubai is a free trade zone with no limitations on the movement of goods or currency. In the absence of laws expressly prohibiting the practice of hawala, it is difficult to track and arrest the offenders. And since hawala does not affect the Dubai economy, and it's not a priority for local law enforcement...
With only 30 years until the wells dry up and the refineries are empty, Dubai is pushing Asian tourism hard. There are frequent direct flights from Hong Kong, Singapore, Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur, Bombay and New Delhi. Luxury hotels are a growth industry (see Hot Deals). And since March, immigration officials have been issuing 30-day visas on arrival to visitors from South Korea, Japan, Hong Kong, Brunei, Malaysia and Singapore. The drive is working: the number of Asian tourists rose from 230,000 in 1990 to 570,00 in 1999. As Dubai is discovering, there's more than...