Friday, Sep 03, 2010

Gulf News

It provided evidence to investigators in 95 cases last year

Abu Dhabi Forensic evidence played a crucial role in the recent case of a 14-year-old Brazilian girl, allegedly raped by her school bus driver.

As the details of the case, which attracted media attention both locally and internationally, unfolded before the court, the charges changed from rape to consensual sex.

Last month, the Court of First Instance sentenced the girl to six months in jail followed by deportation, after finding her guilty of consensual sex. The 25-year old Pakistani bus driver was sentenced to one year in jail followed by deportation.

Evidence in the form of intimate text messages and photographs sent by the girl to the man from her mobile phone was all important in influencing the verdict.?And while the case only involved basic extraction of evidence from the mobile phones of those involved, the role of digital forensics in unearthing crucial evidence to support law enforcement bodies in general is growing and becoming more complicated all the time.

That’s where the Abu Dhabi police digital forensics lab comes in.

The recently set up all-female team of seven has provided evidence to investigators in an impressive 95 cases over the past year.

Gulf News spoke to members of the team who are now learning from the wealth of experience of the UK’s Metropolitan police, made possible by a cooperation agreement with the Abu Dhabi police force.

“The lab was first set up in August last year and began functioning a month later. Since then, we’ve dealt with 95 cases involving mobile phones, computers, closed circuit cameras and so on,” said Wafa Nasser, one of the forensic experts.

“Financial scams and child pornography are some of the cases that have come came to us.”

All seven Emirati women are qualified IT professionals and have been put through a number of training programmes in the UAE and abroad by the government.

The lab uses a number of different applications at the same time, instead of just one, to examine the maximum amount of details, said Hanadi Al Suwaidi, another expert.

Testimony

Members are often called to the court to give expert testimony on cases, she said.

Utmost care is taken to ensure the evidence has not been tampered with, by the use of documentation according to guidelines, she added.

Ahmed Kutty/Gulf News

Cracking a case

Captain Ali Al Rahbi, head of cyber crime department, Abu Dhabi (right) and Mark Stokes, head of Metropolitan Police digital and electronics forensic service,Scotland Yard, are briefed by Nesma Abdullah and Inaas Abdul Rahman at the centre yesterday.

Role

Getting bigger and better

The role of digital forensics is growing rapidly worldwide with an increased number of cases demanding its experts and their services in solving various crimes.

“Examination of digital forensics media — such as mobile phones, computers, closed circuit TV (CCTV), audio evidence — is a growing area with 15 to 25 percent increase annually on the number of exhibits that reach the labs”, Mark Stokes, head of the digital and electronics forensic service at UK’s Metropolitan police told Gulf News.

In Abu Dhabi, the situation is no different with an increasing number of cases involving digital media being reported, said Captain Ali Al Rahbi who heads Abu Dhabi police forensics lab.

Organised crime and identity theft are some of the most common cases the lab deals with, Captain Al Rahbi noted.

A bigger and better digital forensics lab will be established within two months, he added.

— R.A.

By Rayeesa Absal?Staff Reporter

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