Kidnapped Dubai princess begs UK police to probe her sister’s Cambridge abduction
THE kidnapped daughter of Dubai’s ruler has begged British police to reinvestigate the disappearance of her elder sister.
Disturbing footage of Princess Latifa released last week showed her being held captive by her father.
And now it has emerged she smuggled out a letter to Cambridgeshire Constabulary asking it to continue an inquiry into her sister Shamsa. She was 18 when she was abducted from a Cambridge street in 2000 on the orders of their father, Sheikh Mohammed Al-Maktoum.
In her handwritten letter, Latifa wrote: ‘All I ask of you is to please give attention to her case because it could get her her freedom … your help and attention could free her.
‘She has strong links to England. She really loves England, all of her fondest memories are of her time there.’ Obtained
SCANDAL OF PRINCESS ABDUCTED FROM UK
by the BBC, the handwritten letter was passed to Cambridgeshire Police by friends of Latifa, 35, on Wednesday.
It claims her sister has been mistreated, adding: ‘She was kept incommunicado with no release date, trial or charge. She was tortured by getting her feet caned.’
Shamsa, 39, grew up partly in the UK and had a western education. In September 1999 she wrote to a friend to say her father had refused to allow her to go to university.
In the summer of the following year the teenager drove a Range Rover to the perimeter of the sheikh’s £75million estate in Longcross, Surrey, and escaped.
She was tracked down to Cambridge in August that year and captured on the street.
Afterward, she was driven to another of her father’s estates, in Newmarket, and then flown out of the country by helicopter.
A private jet took her from northern France back to Dubai. Latifa has claimed previously that her sister was being drugged and looked like a ‘zombie’.
Cambridgeshire Police began an investigation in 2001 when Shamsa contacted its officers through an immigration lawyer.
But it came to nothing when detectives were prevented from visiting Dubai. Aides for the sheikh are understood to have made representations to the Foreign Office at the time. The force took a further look at the case in 2018 following a message from Shamsa but one officer told the BBC there were ‘significant sensitivities’.
The review last year followed a 2019 High Court ruling that Sheikh Mohammed had abducted both of his daughters and held them against their will.
The sheikh’s only reference to Shamsa’s case was made to the High Court, describing her as ‘vulnerable’ and saying he was ‘relieved’ at finding her.
His sixth wife, Princess Haya, fled to Britain in 2019 with her two children. Latifa has not been seen in public since 2018, when she was allegedly seized by her father’s guard as she tried to flee Dubai by boat.
Her letter to Cambridgeshire Police was written in 2019 but dated February 2018 – before her failed escape bid – to hide the fact she had a means of communicating with the outside world.
Last week’s footage of her was described as ‘deeply troubling’ by Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab.
She claimed to have been drugged and returned to Dubai where she has been kept ‘hostage’ in solitary confinement inside a barricaded ‘villa jail’.
Campaigners want the Foreign Office to impose sanctions against the sheikh, 71, who denies the allegations about his daughters.
But there are doubts whether any action will take place.
The United Arab Emirates, which includes Dubai, is a key ally of the UK. The sheikh is friends with the Queen and owns the Inverinate estate in Ross-shire.
Downing Street and the Foreign Office both said yesterday that Shamsa’s case was a matter for Cambridgeshire Police.
The Prime Minister’s spokesman added: ‘The Prime Minister said last week Princess Latifa’s claims of being held against her will are obviously concerning.
‘But with regards to the abduction of Princess Shamsa, that (investigation) was conducted by Cambridge Constabulary.’
A force spokesman confirmed it had received a letter that would form part on an ‘ongoing review’.
He added: ‘This is a very complex and serious matter and, as such, there are details of the case that it would be inappropriate to discuss publicly.’
The Dubai government was approached for a response.