Sheikha Latifa, a Dubai princess who was detained by commandos in 2018 while attempting to flee the country, used a fake Irish passport as part of her escape plan, according to a recent article in the New Yorker magazine. In an elaborate plan, Latifa intended to cross the border by underwater scooter, using a scuba rebreather, and then take a dinghy to a pre-purchased boat that was located at a rendezvous point sixteen miles off the coast of Oman. The plan was then to sail to India or Sri Lanka, and Latifa would use her fake Irish passport to fly to the US. However, she was drugged during her escape attempt and taken back into detention. The former President of Ireland, Mary Robinson, became embroiled in the case after attending a lunch with the princess and her family in 2018. Robinson has since said her role in the controversy was her biggest mistake. Latifa was pictured with the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, in Paris last year. She is not the first to have obtained fake Irish documents, with a number of high-profile incidents in recent years.
