Sheikh's daughter 'kidnapped'

Allegations that the daughter of Sheikh Mohammed al-Maktoum - one of the world's richest Arab leaders - was kidnapped in Britain are being investigated by police.

Detectives in Cambridgeshire have launched an inquiry following a formal complaint from a British solicitor who says that a woman claiming to be Sheikha Shamsa, daughter of the influential Crown Prince of Dubai, was ordered into a car by four men and later flown to Dubai by private jet.

Officers are trying to establish whether the complaint is genuine, or indeed whether any criminal offence has been committed.

According to a report in The Guardian, the woman has spoken with the officers by telephone from Dubai and has claimed that she had been prevented from leaving the country since her return.

A Cambridgeshire police spokesman said the investigation is being headed by Detective Chief Inspector David Beck, the force's chief hostage negotiator. "Detectives are investigating an allegation that a 19-year-old woman staying in the Cambridge area in August 2000 was taken against her will by a number of people to the Middle East, her home country,? he said.

The spokesman added: "Officers have since spoken to a woman believed to be the 19-year-old woman, who is now thought to be alive and unharmed in the Middle East, to gain further details about the incident.?

Sheikh Mohammed is Dubai's head of state and the defence minister of the United Arab Emirates. He has extensive British interests, mainly through his Godolphin horseracing base in Newmarket.