A 20-year-old Arab expatriate strolled happily with his new camera mobile phone in a packed shopping centre in Abu Dhabi, looked around and stealthily snapped a shot of two women walking past.
He had been lucky to find a less expensive second hand mobile phone but luck betrayed him when two security men jumped on him. "They seized him because he photographed two girls with his mobile phone. It is illegal to do so not only here but in any country," said a security employee at the Marina Mall.
"People, especially these teenagers, should be careful because such places are well secured and they should know it is not nice to do such acts."
Complaints about camera mobile phones have already started to pour into many countries as more such advanced handsets poured into the market.
For users, these phones could be a real joy if they just do not abuse them. For police they could be another security headache.
Etisalat, the sole telecommunication services provider in the UAE, has just introduced the advanced Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS), which makes camera mobile phones a real delight since user can send pictures to other MMS-enabled handsets or e-mails.
Since it introduced MMS two months ago, nearly 100,000 people have subscribed to the service and the figure is set to swell as more camera phones storm into the lucrative UAE market, one of the fastest growing mobile phone markets in the world.
Before the arrival of camera phones, police had to deal with such abuses involving teenagers flashing their mobile numbers or sending simple messages to girls.
"We are facing a new problem now," said a security officer. "Some boys or girls take their own pictures or that of others and send them to mobile phones by MMS. We are receiving such complaints and I think we are ahead of a real problem as more camera phones hit the market. The problem is that Etisalat cannot control this behaviour."
As mobile phone technology surges at a revolutionary pace, most phone makers have started to produce camera mobile handsets in a hectic bid to maintain their share in a market where scores of new mobile phone firms are emerging. Customers appear to be the main beneficiaries of the strong competition among mobile phone producers as it means lower prices.
"Demand is very strong for camera mobile phones because their prices have sharply gone down and many customers want to make full use of the MMS facility," said Hussein Mahameed of Al Asala mobile phone chain.
"I have heard of some problems involving taking pictures of women in public places. We have to expect this because not all people use technology in the right way. Camera phones are really great pieces and could be used in many suitable ways to create joy and fun. I think we should understand and appreciate them, not abuse them."
Authorities are trying to cope with such abuses. The UAE has always stressed it is an open, free market which blocks only dangerous or obscene material.
But the problem is not confined to camera phones as most other handsets are equipped with a downloading capability allowing them to import obscene pictures from computers and web sites. Some of those pictures are animated, underscoring their obscenity.
Users could exchange such pictures over their phones through MMS while others simply keep them in their handsets even after they swap them for new handsets.
"The other day I bought a second hand Nokia mobile phone from a shop on Defence Road for my wife," said Abdul Bari, an Egyptian government employee. "She was very excited and happy with it before she went though the gallery and saw those pictures. They are very rude and disgusting. I know it is not the mistake of the dealers but they should erase such things when they buy used phones."
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