Britons warned of UAE terror threat

The British Government has raised its terror warning for the United Arab Emirates to its highest level.

A statement on the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) website says: "There is a high threat from terrorism. We believe terrorists may be planning to carry out attacks in the UAE."

The FCO has four levels of terror threat, including "high", "general", "underlying" and "low".

A "high" threat comes into force when there is a "high level of known terrorist activity".

The FCO statement continues: "Attacks could be indiscriminate and could happen at any time, including in places frequented by expatriates and foreign travellers such as residential compounds, military, oil, transport and aviation interests.

"You should maintain a high level of security awareness, particularly in public places."

An FCO spokesman said he could not go into specific detail as to what information may have triggered the rise in threat level.

He said: "The terrorism threat has risen from general to high. It's part of our general policy to keep our travel advice under constant review. It draws on a variety of sources available to the Government, including local knowledge, intelligence and experience of the FCO's overseas posts."

Over a million British visitors travel to the UAE every year. And as many as 120,000 British nationals live and work in the country, where they can earn relatively high wages.

The FCO says most visits to the Muslim country are trouble-free and incidents of street crime are rare.

But concerns have been voiced that al-Qa'ida may have supporters or operatives in the country and a tradition of smuggling and money-laundering has raised fears about terrorist funding.

The UAE strongly condemned the 11 September terrorist attacks.

The seven states which make up the Middle Eastern federation include the capital Abu Dhabi and Dubai, an increasingly popular tourist destination, known for its brand-name shopping and five star hotels.