(Afkar Abdullah/khaleejtimes) Sharjah, United Arab Emirates - Eight Ethiopian maids were found dead under mysterious circumstances in their Al Butaina weekend apartment here recently, a police source said. Poisoning is suspected and the motive remains unclear. 

While officially the police declined a comment, the source described the eight as absconders and said they got together in the said apartment over the weekend. An argument is understood to have preceded the event.

The matter was reported to the police on July 8 and later referred to forensics, the source said. While investigations are under way, arrests have been made, but an exact number could not be ascertained.

(Gulf News) The Sharjah Police are denying the deaths of eight women, suspected to have been poisoned by a woman. Ethiopian consulate sources yesterday told Gulf News that the eight illegal housemaids were poisoned by a compatriot maid, who has been held in Sharjah Central Jail.    >>>READ MORE