Police trying to stop rising number of cable thefts

DUBAI // Police say they are working to curb the "trend" of cable thefts, noting that more than 190 such cases have been investigated in the last two yaers.

"We spotted an increase of cable thefts, through the analysis of crime trends, and developed special security programmes to combat them," said Col Mohammed Nasser, the deputy director of the Criminal Investigation Department of police station affairs.

So far this year, 84 cases involving more than 484 suspects have been reported. In all of 2010, there were 108 cable thefts involving 554 suspects, police said. The thefts occur mainly in open remote areas and constructions sites.

"Cable thefts are not a crime confined to Dubai or the UAE, but are a Gulf phenomenon which is thriving due to the big demand on these cables in our region," said Col Ahmed bin Ghalita, head of the crime prevention department at Dubai Police.

The price of one tonne of copper is about Dh35,000 but police did not disclose the total quantity stolen. In Al Qusais alone, however, more than Dh245,000 worth of copper cable was stolen this year, amounting to more than half of all thefts.

Among those arrested in the past two years were 26 traders who owned scrap warehouses.

Police said elements of three security programmes were aimed at curbing cable thefts.

The first "Security Gaps" looks for security problems at sites that might be attractive to theives.

"It is a programme where we identify security gaps and we put measures in place to fill them. We also try to engage members of society to report anything unusual they notice. In a nutshell it is a programme which aims to give police more eyes, ears, hands and mouths," Col bin Ghalita said.

Through this programme, police and the Dubai Electricity and Water Authority have set up surveillance at the 2,000 electricity substations scattered across the city. Communications towers and many construction sites were addressed with the help of their owners.

The other two security programmes, "Dubai Eyes", which allows officers in the operations room to look at live CCTV footage, and "Gates of the City", which concentrates resources on the emirate's exit points, also address cable theft, officials said.

"The majority of the stolen items are taken out through the east and we aim to control these exits to catch the perpetrators," Col bin Ghalita said.

Al Qusais, meanwhile, got more attention from police in the form of officers, cameras and public outreach.

"The programmes have started to slowly pay off, as so far this year we have witnessed a slight decrease in such crimes," said Lt Col Ahmed al Merri, head of the criminal investigation unit.

wissa@thenational.ae

Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.

Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.

“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.

“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.

Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.

From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.

Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.

BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.

Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.

Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.

“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.

“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.

“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”

The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”

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Her father is a retired Emirati police officer and her mother is originally from Kuwait
She Graduated from the American University of Sharjah in 2015 and is currently working on her Masters in Communication from the University of Sharjah.
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