The FBI reportedly helped the United Arab Emirates’s government track down runaway Princess Latifa.
The prime minister’s office contacted an FBI agent stationed in the U.S. Consulate in Dubai, claiming that the prime minister’s daughter, Sheikha Latifa bint Mohammed al Maktoum, also known as Princess Latifa, had been kidnapped, and a ransom was being demanded sometime after her escape on Feb. 24, 2018, according to a USA Today report.
The princess made her escape in February 2018, reaching the yacht Nostromo off the coast of Oman with the help of two foreign nationals. While onboard, she used her email and Instagram, leaving a digital footprint.
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After consulting Washington and superiors, the FBI agent contacted the Rhode Island-based company KVH Industries, the Nostromo’s internet provider, according to records, requesting access to where and when the princess had last used her email, the report said.
After first maintaining that a subpoena was required to disclose the Nostromo’s information, KVH Industries waived the protocol as well after the agent insisted that it was an emergency hostage situation, according to the report. Using the information provided by the FBI, Emirati and Indian commandos tracked down and captured Princess Latifa in the Indian Ocean, 50 miles off the coast of Goa, India, on March 4, 2018, the report added.
“The FBI truly believed this was a kidnapping case and the U.S. was saving the day,” an insider told the news outlet.
However, a lack of documentation and other details as USA Today’s sources described raised skepticism among former FBI agents and ex-intelligence officials who were not familiar with the operation. Tom Fuentes, a former FBI assistant director, said requesting sensitive information such as geolocation data without a subpoena would be highly unusual in such a situation.
“I don’t know of any internet service provider who would provide it [the data] without some kind of paperwork,” Fuentes said. “They need paper.”
The report by USA Today was based on several insiders familiar with the operation but who requested not to be identified so as to avoid intimidation from Emirati intelligence services.
The FBI declined to comment on the matter when reached by the Washington Examiner.
Princess Latifa, 35, claims that she had been the subject of abuse from her father, UAE Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed, who forbade her from traveling abroad or going anywhere unaccompanied. She claims in a video taken prior to her kidnapping that security forces had tortured her following a previous failed escape attempt.
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The prime minister maintains the princess was being extorted by “a criminal” and was returned to Dubai as part of a “rescue mission.”
The princess has not been seen publicly since her recapture, aside from a few pictures that appear to show her on vacation in Spain. Her only public statements have been through the London-based law firm Taylor Wessing, which included one attributed to Latifa, saying the photos show, “I can travel where I want. I hope now that I can live my life in peace.”
The London-based law firm declined to comment on claims related to the Nostromo raid.
