DUBAI, United Arab Emirates: Dubai police have arrested foreign hackers who targeted five senior White House officials in a blackmail e-mail scam, state-owned media reported on Monday.
The Arabic-language Al Bayan newspaper and the television channel Dubai One reported the arrests, while Dubai police did not answer repeated calls for comment. The arrests come as the United Arab Emirates, which hosts some 4,000 US troops fighting the Daesh group, remains a crucial regional ally.
Al Bayan quoted Maj. Saud Al-Khalidi of Dubai police as saying an “African gang” broke into the e-mails of the five senior officials and “got highly confidential information.” He said the US asked Dubai police for assistance.
Al-Khalidi was quoted as saying that investigators tracked down the gang to an apartment in the emirate of Ajman and arrested three suspects. Those arrested are between 24 and 26 years of age and had a list of “5 million bank accounts,” as well as hacking software and millions of dollars in assets, he said.
The major said the three people had entered the UAE on visitor visas a few years ago.
The reports did not identify the White House officials targeted. Al-Khalidi reportedly said those suspects would be handed over to the United States for possible criminal trials.
The US Embassy in Abu Dhabi did not respond to requests for comment.
Dubai police arrest hackers after White House staff
Dubai police arrest hackers after White House staff
The art of war: fears for masterpieces on loan to Louvre Abu Dhabi
- UAE paid more than €1 billion to borrow priceless works, but experts in France want them back
PARIS: The Middle East war has raised fears for the safety of priceless masterpieces on loan from France to the Louvre Abu Dhabi, the museum’s only foreign branch.
The Abu Dhabi museum, which opened in 2017, has so far escaped damage from nearly 1,800 Iranian drone and missile strikes launched since the conflict erupted on Feb. 28.
However, concerns are mounting in France. “The works must be removed,” said Didier Selles, who helped broker the original agreement between France and the UAE.
French journal La Tribune de l’Art echoed that alarm. “The Louvre’s works in Abu Dhabi must be secured!” it said.
France’s culture ministry said French authorities were “in close and regular contact with the authorities of the UAE to ensure the protection of the works loaned by France.”
Under the agreement with the UAE, France agreed to provide expertise, lend works of art and organize exhibitions, in return for €1 billion, including €400 million for licensing the use of the Louvre name. The deal was extended in 2021 to 2047 for an additional €165 million.
Works on loan include paintings by Rembrandt and Chardin, Classical statues of Isis, Roman sarcophagi and Islamic masterpieces: such as the Pyxis of Al-Mughira.
A Louvre Abu Dhabi source said the museum was designed to protect collections from both security threats and natural disasters.
