Thirteen members of a financial crime ring have been given prison sentences by a Dubai court over an elaborate Dh185 million money laundering scheme.
The gang of international fraudsters stole large cash payments, intended for an Emirati law firm, from major clients over a period of six years.
The Dubai Court of Misdemeanours heard how the group established three shell companies and duped clients into believing they belonged to the law company.
They issued fake invoices and receipts to the unwitting victims in order to obtain the cash.
The funds were then transferred to accounts set up by the criminal enterprise.
Some of the gang members worked for the law firm, within its intellectual property department.
The clients targeted included car manufacturer BMW, a major car agency in the UAE, a Swiss watches group, and Japanese Kyocera Group, court records showed.
The defendants comprised four Jordanians, three Indians, two Egyptians, two from the Philippines, an Emirati, a Canadian, a Briton and a Moroccan.
They were found guilty of charges including money laundering, fraud and forgery, with 13 given prison terms of between one and three years.
Two of the group's members were fined Dh20,000 each for their roles in the crime.
The three shell companies were each fined Dh500,000.
The court ordered the confiscation of all assets owned by the defendants to help recover the laundered amounts.
Court documents showed the defendants transferred the money through a number of banks and exchange centres to people in Egypt, Morocco, Jordan among other countries.
Some of those people were identified while the identities of others remain unknown.
The verdict, which was issued on March 31, remains subject to appeal within two weeks.
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The specs
AT4 Ultimate, as tested
Engine: 6.2-litre V8
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Torque: 623Nm
Transmission: 10-speed automatic
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THREE
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Transmission: 8-speed auto
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Why are asylum seekers being housed in hotels?
The number of asylum applications in the UK has reached a new record high, driven by those illegally entering the country in small boats crossing the English Channel.
A total of 111,084 people applied for asylum in the UK in the year to June 2025, the highest number for any 12-month period since current records began in 2001.
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Graphene is a single layer of carbon atoms arranged like honeycomb.
It was discovered in 2004, when Russian-born Manchester scientists Andrei Geim and Kostya Novoselov were "playing about" with sticky tape and graphite - the material used as "lead" in pencils.
Placing the tape on the graphite and peeling it, they managed to rip off thin flakes of carbon. In the beginning they got flakes consisting of many layers of graphene. But as they repeated the process many times, the flakes got thinner.
By separating the graphite fragments repeatedly, they managed to create flakes that were just one atom thick. Their experiment had led to graphene being isolated for the very first time.
At the time, many believed it was impossible for such thin crystalline materials to be stable. But examined under a microscope, the material remained stable, and when tested was found to have incredible properties.
It is many times times stronger than steel, yet incredibly lightweight and flexible. It is electrically and thermally conductive but also transparent. The world's first 2D material, it is one million times thinner than the diameter of a single human hair.
But the 'sticky tape' method would not work on an industrial scale. Since then, scientists have been working on manufacturing graphene, to make use of its incredible properties.
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