DUBAI // The former England cricketer Andrew Flintoff has not shut the door on Dubai despite moving back to the UK, and may still play a promotional role during next year's England-Pakistan series in the UAE.
"Freddie" Flintoff left Dubai for a country home in Surrey this year saying he did not want his children to take the sunshine for granted.
He had been working for Falcon and Associates, a company set up to promote Dubai, for an undisclosed fee.
The company yesterday said leaving the UAE would be no barrier to Flintoff continuing as a sports ambassador for the emirate during the England-Pakistan series in Dubai and Abu Dhabi next January and February.
"Falcon and Associates does maintain a relationship with Andrew Flintoff which enables us to engage with him as and when appropriate on different sporting initiatives," a Falcon spokesman said.
"A potential example could be the England cricket matches in Dubai next year."
But the spokesman stressed plans were not confirmed as Flintoff's contract is expected to expire at the end of this year.
Flintoff's agent was unavailable for comment yesterday.
The sportsman arrived in Dubai soon after retiring from Test cricket after England's 2009 Ashes victory.
What began as a plan to nurse a knee injury for six months turned into a longer-term commitment when he signed up with Falcon contract.
Flintoff told the UK weekly magazine Hello that he had lived in relative luxury in Dubai.
"As if a lad from Preston was living on the Palm [Jumeirah] with my own swimming pool!" he was quoted as saying. "It wasn't bad. It was sunny all the time but I really missed England and everything I wanted to do was here."
But it would be good for his children, Holly, Corey and Rocky, to grow up in the English countryside, Flintoff said.
He saidin January last year that his family was enjoying life in Dubai and regularly went camping in the desert.
During his stay, Flintoff played little part in developing local cricket.
Mahzar Khan, an administrator of the Emirates Cricket Board, which oversees the local league, said he did not know what role Flintoff was playing in Dubai.
"Unfortunately, I didn't interact with him," Mr Khan said.
Pakistan and England will play three Tests, four one-day internationals and three Twenty20 matches in the UAE because of security fears on the subcontinent.
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Date of birth: April 18, 1998
Playing position: Winger
Clubs: 2015-2017 – Al Ahli Dubai; March-June 2018 – Paris FC; August – Al Wahda
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Types of bank fraud
1) Phishing
Fraudsters send an unsolicited email that appears to be from a financial institution or online retailer. The hoax email requests that you provide sensitive information, often by clicking on to a link leading to a fake website.
2) Smishing
The SMS equivalent of phishing. Fraudsters falsify the telephone number through “text spoofing,” so that it appears to be a genuine text from the bank.
3) Vishing
The telephone equivalent of phishing and smishing. Fraudsters may pose as bank staff, police or government officials. They may persuade the consumer to transfer money or divulge personal information.
4) SIM swap
Fraudsters duplicate the SIM of your mobile number without your knowledge or authorisation, allowing them to conduct financial transactions with your bank.
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Someone illegally obtains your confidential information, through various ways, such as theft of your wallet, bank and utility bill statements, computer intrusion and social networks.
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Fraudsters claiming to be authorised representatives from well-known organisations (such as Etisalat, du, Dubai Shopping Festival, Expo2020, Lulu Hypermarket etc) contact victims to tell them they have won a cash prize and request them to share confidential banking details to transfer the prize money.
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World Sevens Series standing after Dubai
1. South Africa
2. New Zealand
3. England
4. Fiji
5. Australia
6. Samoa
7. Kenya
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11. Argentina
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16. Russia
The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
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Name: Kumulus Water
Started: 2021
Founders: Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid
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The number of Chinese people living in Dubai: An estimated 200,000
Number of Chinese people in International City: Almost 50,000
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UAE National Schools: Al Safa School
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International Vets: Joining Jack
Our legal columnist
Name: Yousef Al Bahar
Advocate at Al Bahar & Associate Advocates and Legal Consultants, established in 1994
Education: Mr Al Bahar was born in 1979 and graduated in 2008 from the Judicial Institute. He took after his father, who was one of the first Emirati lawyers
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Round 1: January 17-19, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
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In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
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