DUBAI // The gang behind the murder of Sulim Yamadayev staked out the former Chechen warlord's apartment for days before his killing, prosecutors allege, according to newly released court documents. The suspects also used text messages, phone calls and clandestine meetings to arrange for the assassin to receive the "golden gun" used to shoot him, they say.
The details were contained in the charge sheet filed with the Dubai Criminal Courts of First Instance, where two of the alleged plotters appeared yesterday.
MH, an Iranian who was formerly a horse groom for the Chechen president, Ramzan Kadyrov, and MJ, a Tajik, are accused of aiding and abetting a premeditated murder as well as possessing an unlicensed weapon.
Mr Yamadayev was shot dead in the basement car park of his residence at Jumeirah Beach Residence on March 28.
He had commanded the elite Vostok battalion in Chechnya. A Chechen rebel fighter, he reportedly switched sides to fight for the Russians.
Dubai Police have said that the former warlord survived multiple attempts on his life before he moved to Dubai.
Mr Yamadayev had apparently been living in the city with his wife and six children. He was reported to have "retired" and moved to Dubai earlier in the year.
According to the charge sheet, police officers claim the defendants have confessed to their part in the plot.
They also alleged the involvement of Adam Delimkhanov, the Russian MP and former Chechen deputy prime minister.
A police first lieutenant told prosecutors that MJ admitted to agreeing to take part in the plot when he was offered US$100,000 (Dh367,000) by two men named Salman and Tirpal earlier that month. Interpol has issued seven arrest warrants in connection with the case, including for two men named Salman Kimayev and Tirpal Kimaev.
According to prosecutors, MJ told officers that he was ordered by Salman to rent a car for the purpose of following Mr Yamadayev, 35.
A few days later, MJ said, he was introduced to two people named Ramazan and Zelimkhan. Interpol has also identified two men named Ramazan Musiev and Zelimkhan Mazaev as suspects.
Another police investigator told prosecutors that MH had also confessed, the documents show.
The officer said MH became aware of the plot after he heard Mr Delimkhanov speak ill of Mr Yamadayev and say: "He must die."
MH is said to have told investigators that he, Mr Delimkhanov and another Chechen man followed Mr Yamadayev, who was returning to Dubai after a trip, from the airport to his home at the Jumeirah Beach Residence.
According to MH, the three men then surveyed the complex's basement parking area for 45 minutes and took note of Mr Yamadayev's parking space.
According to the court documents, MH told investigators that Mr Delimkhanov later - it was unclear when - took a briefcase from him and returned it to him the following day.
He was instructed to hold on to it until he was contacted again and then to hand it over to someone.
MH said he opened the case out of curiosity to find a gold-plated 9mm Stechkin APS pistol with a full magazine. He hid it in the Emirates Hills area.
Later - again it was unclear how many days later - Mr Delimkhanov called MH, asking him to text him the location of Mr Yamadayev's building at the Jumeirah Beach Residence, which he did.
Mr Delimkhanov then told MH he would receive a call from a man, and that he was to deliver the gun to him.
When he received that call, MH went to retrieve the hidden weapon.
He and the Russian met near the Clock Tower roundabout in Deira, where the weapon was handed over.
MJ was said to have told officers that, on the day of the murder, he and Salman spent hours staking out Mr Yamadayev's flat. The pair went to a cafe in the complex and, while they were there, Salman spotted Mr Yamadayev's car passing by. They then contacted Ramnazan.
The ambush took place later that day. He was shot in the back of the head despite the presence of two unarmed bodyguards, according to police sources.
The court documents allege that, after returning to his flat in Rigga Street, MJ was then called by Salman and told to take several of the suspects to the airport.
The murder has been reported as the sixth in a series of killings of high-profile Chechens during the past year.
Yamadayev's brother, Ruslan, a former member of the Russian parliament's lower house, was shot dead in Moscow last September.
Both were prominent opponents of Mr Kadyrov, who has denied any involvement in either killing.
Mr Yamadayev was dismissed as commander of his battalion last August over alleged involvement in the 1998 abduction and murder of a Chechen businessman, according to the Russian press. The battalion, which answered directly to the Russian federal defence ministry rather than Chechen authorities, has since been disbanded.
Police have since issued seven Interpol red warrants - requests for arrest with a view to extradition - for the remaining suspects who are out of the country.
They include Mr Delimkhanov, who served as Chechnya's deputy premier in 2006-07 and is reported to be a close friend of Mr Kadyrov.
MH and MJ both deny the charges. A request by MJ to defend himself was refused by the presiding judge, Hamad Latif.
Ibrahim al Qassim, MH's defence lawyer, said after the hearing his client was innocent.
The trial was adjourned until October 5. The defendants were remanded in custody.
amustafa@thenational.ae
Tightening the screw on rogue recruiters
The UAE overhauled the procedure to recruit housemaids and domestic workers with a law in 2017 to protect low-income labour from being exploited.
Only recruitment companies authorised by the government are permitted as part of Tadbeer, a network of labour ministry-regulated centres.
A contract must be drawn up for domestic workers, the wages and job offer clearly stating the nature of work.
The contract stating the wages, work entailed and accommodation must be sent to the employee in their home country before they depart for the UAE.
The contract will be signed by the employer and employee when the domestic worker arrives in the UAE.
Only recruitment agencies registered with the ministry can undertake recruitment and employment applications for domestic workers.
Penalties for illegal recruitment in the UAE include fines of up to Dh100,000 and imprisonment
But agents not authorised by the government sidestep the law by illegally getting women into the country on visit visas.
THE SPECS
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A State of Passion
Directors: Carol Mansour and Muna Khalidi
Stars: Dr Ghassan Abu-Sittah
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The specs
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UPI facts
More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions
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The White Lotus: Season three
Creator: Mike White
Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell
Rating: 4.5/5
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
NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
Fixtures
Opening day Premier League fixtures for August 9-11
August 9
Liverpool v Norwich 11pm
August 10
West Ham v Man City 3.30pm
Bournemouth v Sheffield Utd 6pm
Burnley v Southampton 6pm
C Palace v Everton 6pm
Leicester v Wolves 6pm
Watford v Brighton 6pm
Tottenham v Aston Villa 8.30pm
August 11
Newcastle v Arsenal 5pm
Man United v Chelsea 7.30pm
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Engine: Four electric motors, one at each wheel
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T20 SQUADS
Australia: Aaron Finch (c), Mitchell Marsh, Alex Carey, Ashton Agar, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Chris Lynn, Nathan Lyon, Glenn Maxwell, Ben McDermott, D’Arcy Short, Billy Stanlake, Mitchell Starc, Andrew Tye, Adam Zampa.
Pakistan: Sarfraz Ahmed (c), Fakhar Zaman, Mohammad Hafeez, Sahibzada Farhan, Babar Azam, Shoaib Malik, Asif Ali, Hussain Talat, Shadab Khan, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Usman Khan Shinwari, Hassan Ali, Imad Wasim, Waqas Maqsood, Faheem Ashraf.
How much sugar is in chocolate Easter eggs?
- The 169g Crunchie egg has 15.9g of sugar per 25g serving, working out at around 107g of sugar per egg
- The 190g Maltesers Teasers egg contains 58g of sugar per 100g for the egg and 19.6g of sugar in each of the two Teasers bars that come with it
- The 188g Smarties egg has 113g of sugar per egg and 22.8g in the tube of Smarties it contains
- The Milky Bar white chocolate Egg Hunt Pack contains eight eggs at 7.7g of sugar per egg
- The Cadbury Creme Egg contains 26g of sugar per 40g egg
Mountain%20Boy
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Cricket World Cup League Two
Oman, UAE, Namibia
Al Amerat, Muscat
Results
Oman beat UAE by five wickets
UAE beat Namibia by eight runs
Fixtures
Wednesday January 8 –Oman v Namibia
Thursday January 9 – Oman v UAE
Saturday January 11 – UAE v Namibia
Sunday January 12 – Oman v Namibia
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
Company%20profile
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Our family matters legal consultant
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
Company profile
Date started: December 24, 2018
Founders: Omer Gurel, chief executive and co-founder and Edebali Sener, co-founder and chief technology officer
Based: Dubai Media City
Number of employees: 42 (34 in Dubai and a tech team of eight in Ankara, Turkey)
Sector: ConsumerTech and FinTech
Cashflow: Almost $1 million a year
Funding: Series A funding of $2.5m with Series B plans for May 2020
Quick pearls of wisdom
Focus on gratitude: And do so deeply, he says. “Think of one to three things a day that you’re grateful for. It needs to be specific, too, don’t just say ‘air.’ Really think about it. If you’re grateful for, say, what your parents have done for you, that will motivate you to do more for the world.”
Know how to fight: Shetty married his wife, Radhi, three years ago (he met her in a meditation class before he went off and became a monk). He says they’ve had to learn to respect each other’s “fighting styles” – he’s a talk it-out-immediately person, while she needs space to think. “When you’re having an argument, remember, it’s not you against each other. It’s both of you against the problem. When you win, they lose. If you’re on a team you have to win together.”
Brief scoreline:
Tottenham 1
Son 78'
Manchester City 0
