A Jewel Thief in Dubai

I wonder if aspirants of the National Novel Writing Month are considering action-thrillers. Maybe this will provide them with some inspiration.

Back in January 4, 2005, devoid of media helicopters and eager reporters, an unlikely raid was taking place at the Yohara offices in the Shangri La, Sheikh Zayed Road.

Maz Khan, a 34-year old Briton of Pakistani origin lead a fast life with 3 different passports and 2 expensive yachts including a 1.5 million Euro Ferrari boat apart from a $500,000 Ferrari car. He established himself in Dubai after successfully swindling millions of dollars from Norwegian and Irish investors, showing them plans and promotional material of fictitious projects.

But when CIDs from the Dubai Police tried to corner him at the hotel, he arranged his assistant to have coffee with the investigators while he sped away in his Ferrari to Abu Dhabi hoping to catch a Doha bound flight. Unfortunately for him, the police caught up, thanks to a flight delay and Maz Khan is all set to spend the rest of his life in a Dubai jail. Not long ago Maz Khan alias Maz Akhtar was seen delivering speeches and offering tips on 'safe investment' as an 'international property and investment specialist' at seminars.

Maz Khan used a fictitious project called 'The Jewel' often vaguely referring to an actual location. A high profile marketing campaign with a super expensive brochure and an extravagant video with Mummy-like special effects was enough to convince over-eager investors to part with millions of dirhams. The video is interesting - expecially considering that close to a million dollars was spent on people wearing Scream like attire watching gigantic monuments pop out of the desert.

Enjoy The Jewel.