Oman Government Denies London Newspaper Report.

A major Al Qaued Network has been arrested by the Royal Oman Police and handed over to the US Federal Bureau of Investigation, reported a leading London based newspaper. According to the report, a group of Pakistani and Araba Al Qaedaa members have been arrested and handed over by the Omani authorities, as part of a region wide crackdown on militant Islamic groups, affiliated to Bin Laden's Al Qeeda.

However, the Oman Government has denied the report as the AFP reported quting the Oman News Agency that no member of Al Qaueeda has been arrested or handed over to the US, a close military ally of the Bush Administration in the Gulf region. The revelation by the Arabic newspaper comes at a time when the various Arab governments have officially raised concern about the US and British plan to launch attack against Iraq and oust Saddam Hussain.

A mong back, Keralamonitor.com had reported that a group of Al Qaueeda members led by a Kuwaiti citizen was arrested in one of the Gulf countries as part of the crackdown on militant groups. On July 22, keralamonitor.com reported that Kuwaiti Al Qeda man arrested in the Gulf country for planning bombing US targets in Singapore. The Omani authorities have broken up an al-Qaeda cell and extradited several suspects to the United States where they are under interrogation, a London-based Arabic newspaper reported on Sunday.Asharq Al-Awsat quoted American security sources saying "they were transferred to the United States where they are now being interrogated to determine the nature of their relations with al-Qaeda and its leader Osama bin Laden."The Saudi-owned daily said the suspects arrived from Pakistan, but gave no dates for their arrest, the number of men involved or their nationalities.

The sources praised the Omani authorities for breaking up what was reportedly the first such cell discovered in the Gulf sultanate, a strategic US ally, since the September 11 suicide attacks in New York and Washington.

A Kuwaiti by the name of Jabarah Mohd Mansur has been arrested and is believed to be a mastermind behind some plots to bomb US sites in Singapore. Various Gulf countries have intensified anti-Al Qaeeda campaign, keralamonitor.com reported without mentioning the country name. All the Gulf regimes are building bridges with Saddam Hussain and Iraq and opposes Western attack in the Middle East. There is very strong anti American feeling in these countries, due to the perverted US policy of supporting an oppressive Israeli Government. Security has been beefed up in the Gulf countries and even the Internet use is restricted to monitor militant Islamic group movements. Security has been beefed up in airports, shopping malls and even other strategic places. Similarly all the Gulf governments are trying to keep a safe distance from theUS authorities.

Planes from India to UAE likely to be fumigated

Dubai- July 25, 2002. Passenger planes to the UAE from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sudan are likely to be fumigated from next month to prevent epidemics, especially malaria.The Ministry of Health is awaiting approval for the move as these countries were recently hit by floods and the expatriates will soon be returning from their annual vacation, a top health official said.

UAE had more or less eradicated malaria through preventive measures but there were instances of the disease coming from abroad, Dr Juma Bilal, head of preventive medicine at the Ministry of Health told the Gulf News."It is called airport malaria" he said, adding such cases have been also reported in UK and France. "We have requested ministry of Health and Civil Aviation to cooperate with us on the issue." UAE is to be declared malaria free in October this year.

Arab banks urged to set up advanced systems to monitor money-laundering activities


Eastern Networks and S.I.D.E. host joint presentation for financial community in Dubai


Dubai -August 25, 2002, keralamonitor.com

"Arab banks and financial institutions should seek professional help to fight money- laundering by setting up advanced systems to protect themselves," said Geoff Land, Regional Manager, Eastern Networks.

Speaking at a joint presentation by Eastern Networks and S.I.D.E International in Dubai recently, Land said: "It is essential that financial institutions seek professional help as money-laundering is conducted by a network that uses modern tools to beat the system. We know that many Gulf governments have finalized laws on making money-laundering a serious crime, but the big question facing financial institutions is how to apply the law and protect themselves while preventing illegal financial activities from taking place in their institutions. The solution lies in taking preventive steps to detect cases of money-laundering through a shared platform of advanced technology and access to shared solutions."
Eric Aerts, Product Manager, S.I.D.E. International, said that the money-laundering scenario in the Middle East was due to undergo a change since many governments as well as global organizations were involved in efforts to fight this problem.


"Advanced globally accepted and proven solutions are one of the most effective tools against money-laundering. The tools offered by S.I.D.E. are now universally recognized in this field. S.I.D.E.'s many advantages include wide access to SWIFT message data via Web interface, an online filter process and ability to interface with any external system. S.I.D.E.'s OFAC Dynamic multi-lists server allows banks and other financial institutions to monitor all their transactions without negatively affecting the speed or security of their operations," Aerts added. The presentation, attended by members from the financial community, highlighted the many dangers of money laundering. It came at a time when measures by several Gulf governments and professional help offered by international organisations to combat money laundering have improved the prospects of bringing safety and security to financial transactions across the Middle East.


The Gulf Organisation for Industrial Consulting (GOIC), the Arab organization that advises on financial and industrial policies in Gulf states, has called for setting up a joint council to fight money-laundering. The UAE, Kuwait, Bahrain and Oman have introduced legislation making money laundering a serious crime, leaving it to financial institutions to implement procedures concerning illegal financial transactions.Alongside these government efforts to tackle one of the worst threats facing developing economies, sophisticated solutions that arm financial institutions and banks with highly effective measures to detect and stop money-laundering are being offered by global organizations that have been specializing in this field.


Recently Eastern Networks, the Dubai-based IT solutions provider, entered into a partnership with SWIFT Interface and Data Extraction (S.I.D.E.) to offer financial institutions a proven tool to help combat illegal financial activities. The solution offered by Eastern Networks and S.I.D.E. is an online filter process, which compares selected character strings to the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) list and other lists such as the European Commission list or ones created internally by the institution itself. The process can be integrated in any application from any platform on the network.

The most effective way to stop illegal financial activity is by implementing an integrated monitoring system. The UAE Central Bank has urged banks to set up advanced systems to watch the money moving through their payment networks, identifying payments that follow the patterns indicating criminals at work. The key to the success of the anti-money laundering law is the banks' abilities to implement total compliance, since detailed monitoring of all payments is required for the full effect of the law to take place. Eastern Networks is helping its customers to leverage technology to detect and investigate money laundering. Its partnership with S.I.D.E. promises to add value in protecting regional financial institutions and promoting the Middle East's push to eradicate money-laundering activities in line with international policy.


Eastern Networks has been a pioneer in introducing computing and communication technologies throughout the Middle East since 1984. From PC to WAP based solutions, the company has actively and consistently continued to build on its reputation as a major reliable technical partner, with a wide range of international partnerships. In addition to being banking application developers and a SWIFT business partner, Eastern Networks is also a bolero.net regional agent and a Microsoft Certified Partner. EN provides web-enabled Delivery Solutions packages that include applications like raseed-e® Phone Banking, atheer-e® WAP Banking, daleel-e® Call Center, bitaqat-e® secure, which is a card-issuing system. EN's regional operations are managed through offices in Amman, Jordan, Dubai Internet City, UAE and Istanbul, Turkey.