ABU DHABI, April 7: The crown prince of Dubai has bought a camel for a record 2.72 million dollars, an organiser at a camel beauty pageant said on Monday.

Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashed al-Maktoum “bought camels... worth 16.5 million dirhams (4.49 million dollars), including a female camel... for 10 million dirhams (2.72 million dollars),” Hamad bin Kardoum al-Amiri said.

Amiri, quoted by the official WAM news agency, made the remarks on the sidelines of the nine-day beauty pageant, which opened last week in Abu Dhabi.

More than 10,000 camels -- including females which are the fasting racing camels -- from across the Gulf are competing for prize money totalling around 9.5 million dollars. One hundred cars are also up for grabs.—AFP