ISTANBUL // When Seyda Ugurlu, 14, a primary school student, returned home from a visit to a nearby internet cafe last weekend, he was stopped by a stranger who said he was a policeman. The man dragged the boy into a taxi and sped off.
"I will take one of you with me," the man, who carried a gun, said, according to Seyda's 15-year-old cousin, identified only by his initials, B.U.T., who was walking home with the boy after dark in Istanbul. Seyda was gone for four days before he returned to his parents on Tuesday. He told police he had fled when his captor left him alone for a short while. A suspect was arrested in connection with the kidnapping, the reports said.
Seyda was lucky. The incident in Zeytinburnu, a middle-class neighbourhood on the European side of Turkey's metropolis, is the latest case in a rising number of reported kidnappings and attempted kidnappings of children in Turkey. The phenomenon has rattled the public, as rumours of child-snatching gangs of organ traders spread and authorities struggle to deal with a growing sense of fear.
About 1,700 children in the country are currently reported missing, according to Turkey's police. Seven hundred of the missing children disappeared from state-run children's homes, and at least some of them have gone back to their families without telling the police they are home, Ozer Zeyrek, the head of the security department at Turkey's central police headquarters in Ankara, said last week.
Mr Zeyrek was speaking at a news conference called to inform the public about police efforts to find missing children. In response to a question, he said police so far had no hints that an "organ mafia" was behind some of the kidnappings. But he confirmed that police were conducting investigations on that issue.
Suspected cases of illegal trade in human organs are not new in Turkey. Two months ago, court proceedings in connection with the suspected sale of kidneys began in the southern city of Antalya. The main suspect told the court he had given one of his kidneys to a patient in need and received 35,000 Lira (Dh86,550) in "voluntary aid" from the patient's family in return. He said he did not know that such an arrangement was illegal. At least 18,000 patients in Turkey are waiting for a kidney transplant, according to officials.
Experts say it is unlikely that a criminal gang harvesting and selling the organs of children is behind the recent wave of kidnappings. Muzaffer Sariyer, a transplantation specialist, told the NTV news channel that medical procedures for transplantations were so complicated that any gang involved would be running a high risk of being detected. "If you take an organ from a child, you need a lot of people - how do you want to do that?"
However,, fears that a sinister organisation may be behind the kidnappings have been fuelled by reported incidents of attempted child-snatching such as a widely reported case in Mardin province in south-eastern Turkey last month. There, a man introducing himself as an official from the ministry of education, visited the village of Ozcule and told people he was going to take four girls with him for an award ceremony being organised because of their outstanding performance in school, according to news reports.
Ali Acar, one of the villagers who spoke with the visitor, told Turkish media that people in Ozcule became suspicious when the man chose four girls and then asked whether the alleged award winners had had any medical operations or previous illnesses. The man left in his car after the villagers said they were going to ask a nearby unit of security forces about the award ceremony.
The suspect, identified as Mahmut O, was arrested shortly afterwards. As Mr O was brought to a prosecutor for questioning by police, relatives of the four girls and other people of the region tried to lynch him, reports said.
Meanwhile, two men tried to kidnap a nine-year-old girl in Nusaybin, a town about 80km south-east of Ozcule on Turkey's border with Syria. The girl had been playing in front of her father's workplace when she was taken into a car by the men. Police cordoned off the area immediately and started to look for the girl. She was found two hours later in an abandoned car.
In Tatvan, to the north, an unknown couple walked into the newborn ward of the local hospital and took a two-day-old baby with them. While security lapses and a lack of parental supervision may be factors in some cases, the sheer number of kidnappings and attempts has shocked the country. "Our children disappear and are being kidnapped in front of our very eyes," wrote Beran Uzer, a blogger for the website of the Milliyet newspaper.
In response to the growing sense of unease, the government in Ankara announced that a special committee of officials from the interior, education, health and family ministries had been set up to improve efforts to find the missing children. The committee is to smooth co-operation between different government agencies and to create a national data bank for missing children, news reports have said.
tseibert@thenational.ae
Du Plessis plans his retirement
South Africa captain Faf du Plessis said on Friday the Twenty20 World Cup in Australia in two years' time will be his last.
Du Plessis, 34, who has led his country in two World T20 campaigns, in 2014 and 2016, is keen to play a third but will then step aside.
"The T20 World Cup in 2020 is something I'm really looking forward to. I think right now that will probably be the last tournament for me," he said in Brisbane ahead of a one-off T20 against Australia on Saturday.
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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Joker: Folie a Deux
Starring: Joaquin Phoenix, Lady Gaga, Brendan Gleeson
Director: Todd Phillips
Rating: 2/5
Company%20Profile
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Company: Instabug
Founded: 2013
Based: Egypt, Cairo
Sector: IT
Employees: 100
Stage: Series A
Investors: Flat6Labs, Accel, Y Combinator and angel investors
'The Batman'
Stars:Robert Pattinson
Director:Matt Reeves
Rating: 5/5
How to protect yourself when air quality drops
Install an air filter in your home.
Close your windows and turn on the AC.
Shower or bath after being outside.
Wear a face mask.
Stay indoors when conditions are particularly poor.
If driving, turn your engine off when stationary.
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Almnssa
Started: August 2020
Founder: Areej Selmi
Based: Gaza
Sectors: Internet, e-commerce
Investments: Grants/private funding
PSA DUBAI WORLD SERIES FINALS LINE-UP
Men’s:
Mohamed El Shorbagy (EGY)
Ali Farag (EGY)
Simon Rosner (GER)
Tarek Momen (EGY)
Miguel Angel Rodriguez (COL)
Gregory Gaultier (FRA)
Karim Abdel Gawad (EGY)
Nick Matthew (ENG)
Women's:
Nour El Sherbini (EGY)
Raneem El Welily (EGY)
Nour El Tayeb (EGY)
Laura Massaro (ENG)
Joelle King (NZE)
Camille Serme (FRA)
Nouran Gohar (EGY)
Sarah-Jane Perry (ENG)
Singham Again
Director: Rohit Shetty
Stars: Ajay Devgn, Kareena Kapoor Khan, Ranveer Singh, Akshay Kumar, Tiger Shroff, Deepika Padukone
Rating: 3/5
Contracted list
Ashton Agar, Alex Carey, Pat Cummins, Aaron Finch, Peter Handscomb, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Usman Khawaja, Nathan Lyon, Glenn Maxwell, Shaun Marsh, Mitchell Marsh, Tim Paine, Matt Renshaw, Jhye Richardson, Kane Richardson, Billy Stanlake, Mitchell Starc, Marcus Stoinis, Andrew Tye.
TRAP
Starring: Josh Hartnett, Saleka Shyamalan, Ariel Donaghue
Director: M Night Shyamalan
Rating: 3/5
The%20Iron%20Claw
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COMPANY PROFILE
● Company: Bidzi
● Started: 2024
● Founders: Akshay Dosaj and Asif Rashid
● Based: Dubai, UAE
● Industry: M&A
● Funding size: Bootstrapped
● No of employees: Nine
COMPANY%20PROFILE%20
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The%C2%A0specs%20
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Company%20Profile
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COMPANY PROFILE
Founders: Alhaan Ahmed, Alyina Ahmed and Maximo Tettamanzi
Total funding: Self funded
Napoleon
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The specs
Engine: 77.4kW all-wheel-drive dual motor
Power: 320bhp
Torque: 605Nm
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Price: From Dh219,000
On sale: Now
The specs
Engine: Dual 180kW and 300kW front and rear motors
Power: 480kW
Torque: 850Nm
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Price: From Dh359,900 ($98,000)
On sale: Now
THE SPECS
Range Rover Sport Autobiography Dynamic
Engine: 5.0-litre supercharged V8
Transmission: six-speed manual
Power: 518bhp
Torque: 625Nm
Speed: 0-100kmh 5.3 seconds
Price: Dh633,435
On sale: now
Dunki
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Cricket World Cup League 2
UAE squad
Rahul Chopra (captain), Aayan Afzal Khan, Ali Naseer, Aryansh Sharma, Basil Hameed, Dhruv Parashar, Junaid Siddique, Muhammad Farooq, Muhammad Jawadullah, Muhammad Waseem, Omid Rahman, Rahul Bhatia, Tanish Suri, Vishnu Sukumaran, Vriitya Aravind
Fixtures
Friday, November 1 – Oman v UAE
Sunday, November 3 – UAE v Netherlands
Thursday, November 7 – UAE v Oman
Saturday, November 9 – Netherlands v UAE
Company%20Profile
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APPLE IPAD MINI (A17 PRO)
Display: 21cm Liquid Retina Display, 2266 x 1488, 326ppi, 500 nits
Chip: Apple A17 Pro, 6-core CPU, 5-core GPU, 16-core Neural Engine
Storage: 128/256/512GB
Main camera: 12MP wide, f/1.8, digital zoom up to 5x, Smart HDR 4
Front camera: 12MP ultra-wide, f/2.4, Smart HDR 4, full-HD @ 25/30/60fps
Biometrics: Touch ID, Face ID
Colours: Blue, purple, space grey, starlight
In the box: iPad mini, USB-C cable, 20W USB-C power adapter
Price: From Dh2,099
UPI facts
More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions
BABYLON
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'Doctor Strange in the Multiverse Of Madness'
Director: Sam Raimi
Cast: Benedict Cumberbatch, Elizabeth Olsen, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Benedict Wong, Xochitl Gomez, Michael Stuhlbarg and Rachel McAdams
Rating: 3/5
The%20specs
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Fight card
Bantamweight
Siyovush Gulmamadov (TJK) v Rey Nacionales (PHI)
Lightweight
Alexandru Chitoran (ROM) v Hussein Fakhir Abed (SYR)
Catch 74kg
Tohir Zhuraev (TJK) v Omar Hussein (JOR)
Strawweight (Female)
Weronika Zygmunt (POL) v Seo Ye-dam (KOR)
Featherweight
Kaan Ofli (TUR) v Walid Laidi (ALG)
Lightweight
Leandro Martins (BRA) v Abdulla Al Bousheiri (KUW)
Welterweight
Ahmad Labban (LEB) v Sofiane Benchohra (ALG)
Bantamweight
Jaures Dea (CAM) v Nawras Abzakh (JOR)
Lightweight
Mohammed Yahya (UAE) v Glen Ranillo (PHI)
Lightweight
Alan Omer (GER) v Aidan Aguilera (AUS)
Welterweight
Mounir Lazzez (TUN) Sasha Palatnikov (HKG)
Featherweight title bout
Romando Dy (PHI) v Lee Do-gyeom (KOR)
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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Tree of Hell
Starring: Raed Zeno, Hadi Awada, Dr Mohammad Abdalla
Director: Raed Zeno
Rating: 4/5
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: HyperSpace
Started: 2020
Founders: Alexander Heller, Rama Allen and Desi Gonzalez
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: Entertainment
Number of staff: 210
Investment raised: $75 million from investors including Galaxy Interactive, Riyadh Season, Sega Ventures and Apis Venture Partners
Key figures in the life of the fort
Sheikh Dhiyab bin Isa (ruled 1761-1793) Built Qasr Al Hosn as a watchtower to guard over the only freshwater well on Abu Dhabi island.
Sheikh Shakhbut bin Dhiyab (ruled 1793-1816) Expanded the tower into a small fort and transferred his ruling place of residence from Liwa Oasis to the fort on the island.
Sheikh Tahnoon bin Shakhbut (ruled 1818-1833) Expanded Qasr Al Hosn further as Abu Dhabi grew from a small village of palm huts to a town of more than 5,000 inhabitants.
Sheikh Khalifa bin Shakhbut (ruled 1833-1845) Repaired and fortified the fort.
Sheikh Saeed bin Tahnoon (ruled 1845-1855) Turned Qasr Al Hosn into a strong two-storied structure.
Sheikh Zayed bin Khalifa (ruled 1855-1909) Expanded Qasr Al Hosn further to reflect the emirate's increasing prominence.
Sheikh Shakhbut bin Sultan (ruled 1928-1966) Renovated and enlarged Qasr Al Hosn, adding a decorative arch and two new villas.
Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan (ruled 1966-2004) Moved the royal residence to Al Manhal palace and kept his diwan at Qasr Al Hosn.
Sources: Jayanti Maitra, www.adach.ae
Medicus AI
Started: 2016
Founder(s): Dr Baher Al Hakim, Dr Nadine Nehme and Makram Saleh
Based: Vienna, Austria; started in Dubai
Sector: Health Tech
Staff: 119
Funding: €7.7 million (Dh31m)
Hunger and Fury: The Crisis of Democracy in the Balkans
Jasmin Mujanović, Hurst Publishers
More from Rashmee Roshan Lall
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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TWISTERS
Director: Lee Isaac Chung
Starring: Glen Powell, Daisy Edgar-Jones, Anthony Ramos
Rating: 2.5/5