Khaleej Times

ABU DHABI, Aug 12: A police expert has called for chalking out a new mechanism to streamline and restrict the issuance of visit visas, arguing that there is strong link between visit visa holders and the rise in the crime rate in Abu Dhabi.

The large number of expatriates of different nationalities and cultures are among the factors contributing towards the increase in crimes in the capital, he said citing findings of a study he had conducted earlier on the emirate's prisons.

Captain Dr. Abdul Rahman Nasser Alawi, who holds PhD from the University of Glasgow in UK, said his thesis was based on a field survey about the conditions of prisoners at the correctional and punitive institutions in Abu Dhabi. Sixty per cent of the convicts had committed the crimes because of economic reasons, Dr. Al Alawi said in a recent lecture at the Police Officers Club in Al Ain.

Other crime factors include drug abuse and the use of hallucinogenic substances. These factors, he said, were responsible for 40 per cent of the crimes committed in the emirate.