Abu Dhabi plans to invest $121 million in enhancing security around the city, which includes building surveillance towers equipped with radar enabled cameras and thermal cameras that will be placed along the coast to warn of any threats coming from the sea.
 

Still reeling from a hit on Hamas commander Mahmoud al Mabhoud in Dubai, UAE security officials who were praised for the sophisticated surveillance cameras which recorded alleged members of a hit team who used forged passports to enter the country, say the current measures will not only enhance security but protect the country’s national infrastructure, the daily newspaper The National reported Wednesday.
 

Speaking at a security conference, Staff Col. Ishaw al Beshir, the director of operations for the Critical National Infrastructure Authority (CNIA) said construction will begin next month, and is expected to take up to eight months before all the measures will be complete.

He noted that plans are underway to purchase laser engraved identity cards for all CNIA personnel. CNIA is a government agency tasked with the protection and security of Abu Dhabi’s vital assets.
 

Beshir said the new cameras were purchased from the American company ICx Technologies that will enhance the existing network already operating in Abu Dhabi.

The thermal cameras that will be placed along the coast were purchased from a local company, and once installed will have the ability to detect threats before they reach the target zone, he said.

“They have the ability to track the movement of ships within 15 kilometers from the shore and can report the size of the ships and their distance, in order to determine how much time is needed to reach the vessel,” he told reporters at the International Security Resilience conference.