Last Dubai tattoo done as cops crack down
The arrest of four men running an illegal tattoo parlour has put the spotlight on a thriving ‘underground’ tattoo business in Dubai, with the police saying they will now launch a crackdown.
Meanwhile, over 100 professional tattoo artists operating in Dubai alone may be forced to stop providing ink to customers for some time.
Over the last five years, tattoos have become a must-have, irrespective of age, gender or fashion-leaning.
In fact, according to one tattoo artist this website spoke to, the number of women getting tattoos in Dubai alone has tripled in the last two years.
The problem is tattoo artists operating without a licence are illegal.
Brigadier Khalil Ibrahim Al Mansouri, Director of Dubai Police CID told this website, “To run a service offering tattoos you need a special licence.”
The underground industry is worth a million dirhams by its own estimates, simply because artists have to come to your home to do it. Also because it is illegal it is costlier with Dh500 being the minimum for a small tattoo.
Most of the tattoo artists this website spoke to said they are unaware of needing a licence or of from where to get one.
“No ministry is going to give us a licence for something that is no allowed by Islam in the first place,” was the common refrain.
In the case that set all this off, a tip-off by an alert resident who smelled something fishy in a neighbourhood flat led to the busting of the illegal tattoo parlour in the Al Murraqabat area.
Four Filipino men were arrested in the raid that took place recently. Police recovered 14 drills used in the unhygienic operation that offered tattoos and body piercings for between Dh500 – Dh1,000. The charges varied depending on the design or the location of the tattoo or piercing.
Brigadier Khalil Ibrahim Al Mansouri, Director of Dubai Police CID said: "A man came to us and told us about this gang. He lives in the same building, and he used to see Asian and European teenagers knocking the flat door. He said that the Filipino man would open the door in a suspicious way and let them in after asking them many questions," he said.
The Arab national who resided in the building saw teenagers visiting the place, being checked at the door, and later returning with their arms wrapped in gauze, thought it could be a drug den.
Pretending to be a client, an undercover policeman went to the parlour. When asked by one of the Filipino men who ran the operation on how he got to know about the place, the policemen just said he was guided by a friend.
Once inside, the agent saw the flat was dirty. "He saw four Filipinos running the place. There were many machines used to make tattoos and piercing. They showed the agent many albums containing different designs for the tattoo. These included religious and sex-related pictures. They also offered to make tattoos on sensitive parts of the body,” Mansouri said.
The sleuth reported that the flat was dirty with blood-soiled needles, cloths scattered on the blood-stained floor.
They were apparently not sterilising the tools, which could be dangerous and lead to infections transmitted through blood and body fluids.
The undercover agent then thanked the operatives and promised to return to do the tattoo.
Based on the information gathered, police the raided the place and arrested the men and seized the implements used in the illegal trade.