About 250 children were rescued by Dubai Police after being trapped in cars, lifts or locked rooms last year.
The Search and Rescue Department said the figure was a slight increase from the 224 children saved in 2016.
“Of the 241 children, all of whom were under the age of 12, 122 were rescued after being trapped in their parents’ cars”, said Lt Col Ahmed Burqibah, deputy director of the department.
The country has seen several tragic cases of children dying after being left in hot cars by unsuspecting parents, but none such cases were reported in 2017, he said.
Lt Col Burqibah urged parents not to leave their children unattended in cars, rooms or lifts, even momentarily. “Police have organised several campaigns to raise parents’ awareness about the dangers of leaving children alone in hot vehicles or in locked areas,” he said.
Lt Col Burqibah also called on parents to ensure they were using the correct child seats in cars and for all passengers to wear their seat belts.
Some 110 children — five more than the previous year — were rescued from locked rooms or lifts in 2017.
Lt Col Ali Al Naqbi, head of the maritime rescue operations at Dubai Police, told The National that two children were also rescued from drowning in swimming pools.
“The first incident took place in the beginning of 2017, when we were called to rescue a girl, 5, from drowning in a swimming pool in a building in Deira. The little girl, from Germany, was with her housemaid who left the child alone without any lifeguards,” said Lt Col Al Naqbi.
The other incident involved an Arab child below the age of five who was rescued from the swimming pool at her family's villa in Al Mizhar.
“We reached the girl's home in few minutes and thankfully we saved the girl’s life,” he said.
On land, almost 22,500 land rescue missions were carried out by police last year, down from 26,250 in 2016, according to Lt Col Burqibah.
Of those incidents, 74 drivers had to be rescued after getting stranded in the desert.
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
Skewed figures
In the village of Mevagissey in southwest England the housing stock has doubled in the last century while the number of residents is half the historic high. The village's Neighbourhood Development Plan states that 26% of homes are holiday retreats. Prices are high, averaging around £300,000, £50,000 more than the Cornish average of £250,000. The local average wage is £15,458.
2025 Fifa Club World Cup groups
Group A: Palmeiras, Porto, Al Ahly, Inter Miami.
Group B: Paris Saint-Germain, Atletico Madrid, Botafogo, Seattle.
Group C: Bayern Munich, Auckland City, Boca Juniors, Benfica.
Group D: Flamengo, ES Tunis, Chelsea, (Leon banned).
Group E: River Plate, Urawa, Monterrey, Inter Milan.
Group F: Fluminense, Borussia Dortmund, Ulsan, Mamelodi Sundowns.
Group G: Manchester City, Wydad, Al Ain, Juventus.
Group H: Real Madrid, Al Hilal, Pachuca, Salzburg.