Sheikha Latifa bint Mohammed Al Maktoum, a daughter of Dubai’s ruler, fled the Gulf, alleging torture by the ruling family
In a desperate bid to escape royal restrictions, the princess had fled the Gulf state in early March aided by a former French spy. The Frenchman who aided and abetted princess Latifa in her escape bid was no other than Hervé Jaubert, a 62-year-old former French secret agent turned businessman. He had himself made a remarkable escape from Dubai years earlier.
Mr Jaubert had been accused of defrauding the royal family and therefore barred from leaving the country. However, wearing scuba gear under a burka, he fled by sea in 2010, swimming underwater before stealing a boat to escape to international waters.
Meanwhile, Sheikha Latifa had slipped out of Dubai into neighbouring Oman where she was picked up by Jaubert. Together they set out for India on a US-registered yacht, the Nostromo. However, the dash for freedom was cruelly aborted about 30 miles off the coast of Goa when the boat was stopped by a small armada of armed ships and a helicopter and boarded by the Indian coastguard.
Apparently, the Indian prime minister, at the request of Dubai's royal family, had authorised an operation to seize and repatriate the Dubai princess.
The princess and Mr Jaubert were taken back to the UAE. He has since been released but Sheikha Latifa has not been heard from since.
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