OOPS

Dubai ‘Tricked’ the FBI Into Finding Runaway Princess Latifa: Report

UAE officials reportedly told the FBI that Latifa had been kidnapped when she was actually fleeing to file for asylum in the U.S.

The Dubai government reportedly “tricked” Federal Bureau of Investigation officials into helping Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum, prime minister of the United Arab Emirates, locate his runaway daughter by claiming she’d been kidnapped. In March 2018, Princess Latifa bint Mohammed Al Maktoum was ultimately tracked down aboard a yacht off the coast of India, and she begged officials to kill her on the spot rather than force her to return home. An investigation from USA Today alleges that the FBI was able to give the UAE the location of the yacht thanks to the vessel’s internet provider, KVH Industries, a Rhode Island-based company. Latifa, who has said she hoped to file for asylum in the U.S., used the internet on the yacht to attempt to access her email, and the feds were able to pinpoint her location. “The FBI truly believed this was a kidnapping case and the U.S. was saving the day,” an unnamed source said. The FBI declined to comment.