Crime in the United Arab Emirates

However, the U.S. Embassy advises U.S. citizens to take normal precautions against theft, such as not leaving a wallet, purse, or credit card unattended.

[5] In January 2022, a terrorist attack against three oil tanker trucks and an under construction airport extension infrastructure occurred in Abu Dhabi.

[12] A drug trafficking “supercartel” run by Edin “Tito” Gacanin of Bosina and Herzegovina, was found operating via Durban and having headquarters in Dubai.

[9] Washington-based Center for Advanced Defense Studies released a report that US sanctioned war profiteers, terror-funders and drug traffickers have been long-using Dubai's real-estate market as a money-laundering haven.

[15] In a report published in April 2020, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) questioned the UAE’s system despite what it called “significant steps” to strengthen regulations, including new legislation in 2018 and 2019.

[16] In its 2020 assessment, FATF called the Emirates' limited money laundering prosecutions a “concern” and urged the country to strengthen its measures.

[18] On 4 March 2022, FATF placed the UAE in its grey list of countries subject to increased monitoring, due to the shortcomings in addressing the issue of money laundering and terror financing.

The most usual purpose of such trafficking is involuntary servitude, employment in deceptively undeclared adverse and abusive conditions, and sexual exploitation.

In the first half of 2014, reports of three cases of human trafficking were received by the Dubai Foundation for Women and Children (DFWAC) compared to 12 in the same period of 2013.

[needs update][24] A report from the US Department of State into Trafficking in Persons: UAE in 2021, concludes that violations of Emirati labor laws in which signs of human trafficking were present, were not routinely investigated by authorities, and "efforts to identify ... forced labor victims and male victims, remained weak and data collection remained insufficient.