Monday, Sep 02, 2013
Dubai: For three hours, Noor cowered in the ladies washroom in the Dubai Public Prosecution office, not knowing if she would ever see her five children again.
Noor, who has worked at the office for the past four years, was back at her desk yesterday afternoon — the day after a distraught Uzbek woman threatened to detonate a bomb strapped to her waist .
What Noor and all of the police and security officials didn’t know at the time was that the bomb was a fake — meant to threaten and intimidate officials into action and helping her.“It was shortly after 12 noon,” Noor recounted to Gulf News yesterday, “The woman went to the main counter and threatened to blow herself up.”
At that time, Noor had gone to the washroom. When she came out, police had cleared out the building.
“I shut the door and stayed inside,” she said.
There, amid the discarded paper towels, wash basins, and mirror, Noor thought of her five children — the eldest 13 — and whether she would ever see them again.
“At first I was very, very nervous. I didn’t know if the bomb was real. No one did.”
On normal days, she works at the customer service desk, helping clients who patiently draw numbers seeking help or assistance on filing business cases at the Dubai Public Prosecution Office. Sunday was no normal day at the office.
“At two, I looked out again and saw police talking to her,” Noor said. “She was shouting at them but the police were very calm. That helped me feel calm.”
A police officer saw Noor peeking through a door at the tense standoff scene.
“He gestured at me to go back, and I did,” she said. She felt more at ease knowing that now, at least, the police knew she was in the washroom.
Another hour or so passed before she dared look out again.
She told Gulf News that police then talked to the woman with the explosive belt, telling her there was a woman in the washroom and asking her if it was all right if the trapped woman came out.
“She said ‘yes’,” Noor said.
Yesterday, sitting in the same foyer near where the drama unfolded, Noor was back at work, unfazed, helping the public with their inquiries — just like any other day at the office.
By Mick OReilly, Senior Associate Editor
Gulf News 2013. All rights reserved.
