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Child sex offender working as teacher in Kuwait

sexoffender

Over the weekend a friend of mine told me about this story but I didn’t want to post it until I got some more facts. Based on a number of sources, a teacher by the name of Paul Meekins left India because he was being investigated over child abuse claims and moved to Kuwait where he was teaching Social Studies at one of the American schools until he quit. According to my source the school never reported the teacher and so he is still at large in Kuwait.


[YouTube]

What kind of school doesn’t make background checks before hiring teachers or do schools in Kuwait not perform background checks anyway? [Link 1] [Link 2]

139 replies on “Child sex offender working as teacher in Kuwait”

Much to our chagrin, this is not the first this happens in Kuwait. UAS was also home to a repeated sex offender many years ago. This is how HR in American schools in the Middle East work, “Oh he’s American? He’s white? He has a college degree? We’ll take him!”

He was also working at Uas last year as a social studies teacher named Colin Cornes – you can find his picture in the year books and ask all the students who all complained about him

parents complained because he was a terrible teacher – the stories are horrible and he was also zooming in on some boys – school simply didn’t renew contract after the year was over because they found out the truth and did not alert authorities and asked teachers to remain quiet about the subject as usual – a few years ago they hired a superintendent. yes a superintendent named dr. bull who turns out fakes score records and has a scandal about him in the newspapers and his name was not an alias – HR seems to continue to sit back and not get in any trouble – this is not discussing the numerous teachers what have shown up drunk to school – the teachers who have laid hands on students..the teachers who sleep with parents… and the list goes on – oh did we mention the mice that the school has and the illegal architecture….

parents complained because he was a terrible teacher – the stories are horrible and he was also zooming in on some boys – school simply didn’t renew contract after the year was over because they found out the truth and did not alert authorities and asked teachers to remain quiet about the subject as usual – a few years ago they hired a superintendent. yes a superintendent named dr. bull who turns out fakes score records and has a scandal about him in the newspapers and his name was not an alias – HR seems to continue to sit back and not get in any trouble – this is not discussing the numerous teachers what have shown up drunk to school – the teachers who have laid hands on students..the teachers who sleep with parents… and the list goes on

ask anyone who has the yearbook from last year – i have it as well and have his picture – his beard is shaved now

some students found out the truth over the summer

He was my teacher he was so bad and he did not even act as a teacher I am really not sure if the teacher new about it but my friend and I always check teachers over the weekend and here he was under the name paul meekins I was amazed and freaked out the next day the whole school nows about it

UAS is known for its apathetic attitude towards the students. My daughter passed out last year and I found the school very defensive whenever I had any concerns about the school or the teachers. They don’t have enough textbooks. Most teachers are not qualified enough. On one occasion, the superintendent Dr. James Moras told me (his words)”We have no responsibility towards the students”. Shocker. I walked out stunned.I won’t recommend the school to anyone.

This is a sad indictment on the teaching profession. I do agree with you (Kuwaiti Trial Mix) that very little background check is done if the individual is white, American (British) and provides a piece of document that alleges (s)he has some certificate. The American Schools recruit teachers who are of very low standard. American Schools in Kuwait have teachers who are there ONLY because of the color of their skin. Absolutely inadequate teaching experience. Moreover, it is not uncommon to find housewives becoming teachers. Go to these schools and you will see the extent of the damage that these individuals cause to Kuwait. Who is to be blamed?

So I dug a little deeper and found that UAS didn’t want to report it because they did not want to get their hands dirty

He was my teacher in 6th grade. He was my homeroom also my history teacher. In my point of view, the school new it but didn’t report him to the police departmen for some reason

I know about a male teacher in NES 5 years ago who raped a male student. The teacher was fired and left the country immediately. There were no charges brought to the police. This is sickening and happens often.

Yes it is absolutely true and I personally know one person who was raped. That person is actively involved in tracking his rapist and is currently after him in British courts. So please don’t just chime in when you have zero knowledge about anything.

Sumsang, I am sorry to hear about what happened to your friend. I do have knowledge of your case, and as far as I am aware this incident was not reported to NES, nor investigated by the Kuwaiti authorities.

If you read this, can you please contact Mark (248am administrator) for my email address? We should talk (even preserving your friend’s identity and confidentiality).

You’re a Saudi living outside of Kuwait. Please refrain from interfering in Kuwait’s internal affairs, you never lived in Kuwait to begin with. Mind your own business, please.

|”Youā€™re a Saudi living outside of Kuwait. Please refrain from interfering in Kuwaitā€™s internal affairs, you never lived in Kuwait to begin with. Mind your own business, please.”

Don’t interfere in Kuwait’s internal affairs?

Tell that to International sex offenders that are let in and mess with children here and the schools who seem to cover it up.

Who reacts to a subject like this with a comment like that?

R u kidding me?! He was a child sex offender that raped and 8 year older, sent nude maseges to one of his students in bangalore, changed his ID and name and you say that’s normal. BTW u don’t want him as ur teacher. Trust me

So there was a black guy who had a college degree phd and something else there was a white guy who had neither and he was payed more!!!

Actually, most private schools do background checks; however, from what I’ve heard he’s using an alias.

Instead of blaming Kuwait, why not ask how the other countries weren’t able to detain him in the first place?

Using an alias is not an excuse in this day an age when a simple reverse image look up on Google will lead to the news articles. Someone obviously didn’t do their job.

djelibaby: You know this pedo teacher was a headmaster at a school in India and he was wanted in Indian courts for pedophilia. I thought Indian schools did background checks?

They don’t ….. Sorry Aseel, majority call or write to the reference on the CV/ resume and that’s as far as they go.

what i realize newly that most of the foreign teachers (Europe and American) they dont have bachelor in education or anything related to Teaching. maybe a lil experience in their own country and they get hired here cause of their blond hair and the passport !!!

Yup I know people who got offers from “reputable” schools to come teach basically because they speak English. Meanwhile these schools charge what 5000KD a year now? It’s basically a scam and there isn’t really an alternative since the government schools have turned into garbage

Anything that involves abuse against kids is just too sick..
i was shocked to read the article but then after reading the comments it seems like its pretty common..

why don’t schools report these teachers?

what good will it do for the reputation when the people come to know?

what is the point of a reputation that you know you have maintained by hiding the truth?

why dont they set an expample by reporting these scums? atleast the parents would be satisfied that the school doesnt such nonsense.

It’s terrible
but they cover everything for reputation even tho the reputation is very bad
they rather put their students in harms way then tell anyone

As a former employee of UAS and with fellow friends still remaining as employees in the school, I know that UAS employees were never made aware of the ongoing situation and found out through other schools, students and parents about this particular teacher. So instead of the owners and administration of UAS doing what they can to protect students and employees they have subjucted another Kuwaiti school to his pedophilic behavior because they didn’t want to bear any responsibility for hiring a teacher with fake documents and credentials.
Several complaints were made about this teacher and his inappropriate behavior towards children and female employees of the school. UAS needs to take responsibilty for their actions and do what they can to rectify the situation.

In all honesty, this kind of thing (although very rare) is one of the scummy hidden sides of teaching. There are numerous cases like this. In fact, international teaching is ideal for such sick people. Often, they can jump around from country to country when people start catching on to their behaviour. It is very easy to get an international job.

Unfortunately, most schools simply are not able to do a proper background check. It takes great resources, and it is very easy to use a fake name, especially overseas. Schools are normally underfunded, understaffed and overworked, and these sick people prey on that. It is not only in Kuwait where this happens. Furthermore, background checks are normally only looking at criminal offences. If a teacher is fired and sent away, there actually is nothing on their criminal record. It’s very hard to prove and put on a record. It is also embarrassing for the schools. I doubt many principals would say anything unless specifically asked about molestation in an interview. They are too embarrassed and want to keep up the school’s reputation.

Even in North America, this is a major problem. I have been a student at a school where this happened. The teacher was “strongly encouraged to quit”. They didn’t press charges, because they didn’t want the school’s reputation destroyed. Instead, he moved to a new area, got a job, and molested a girl. He was caught and sent to jail. It all could have been prevented, but nobody would go on the record or speak up at all.

It is a very, very tricky situation. The subject alone is uncomfortable. Unfortunately, the world is full of sick people. The more cautious and professional we are, they less chance there is of people getting hurt.

True, but that money does not go towards improving the schools by paying for better qualified teachers, improving facilities/resources etc. (you should see the state of some of the private schools) Instead the money goes straight into the pockets of the greedy school owners who don’t care about the futures of their students. The only thing they care about is their bank balance!

This is not news. Many child abusers and sex offenders are coming to this region and other Asian countries because they know there are no background checks, no strong punishment for their crimes, and their crimes often go unreported.

I remember hearing similar news about such teachers working in Kuwait many years back when there was a news about a teacher in one of the South Asian countries sexually abusing his students.

Uh it absolutely is news. If it’s “common knowledge” then it’s something that needs to be brought to light so it stops being common. That’s what the news is supposed to do.

Isn’t it outside of the scope and purview of citizen journalist blogs to publicly name and shame someone like this without first raising a bell with law enforcement and/or the school authorities?
For all you know He MAY be guilty of all that he is being accused of but does it give individuals like us comprehensive rights to sit in judgement and act judge and jury in what appears to me to be a very flashy almost tabloidy, if you will, manner of portrayal on this blog.
Peace.

I am a former UAS employee who was hired with no teaching credential because, and I quote, “You’re white and you speak English, none of the parents will question it.” It seems, sadly, that no one questioned “Dr. Colin Cornes” either. In fact, most of my colleagues in my department were uncertified.

The responsible party here is UAS’s HR department. I sincerely hope that this Colin Cornes/Paul Meekins situation will bring the Ministry of Education to look into UAS’s hiring practices.

Most importantly PARENTS: QUESTION YOUR TEACHER’S! It is your right to know what certifications the people spending 6 hours a day ALONE with your children have. I have since became a certified teacher and now work at a school in Kuwait that would never dream of hiring an uncertified teacher. There are good schools in Kuwait, but parents have to do the research.

Didn’t you know, in kuwait schools hire you based on the color of your skin. Not because of your qualification or because you actually have experience. Im from UK born and raised have a degree from an Australian university and a MA from a British university. Yet i was paid less because my skin color is brown and their was a white teacher with a high school certificate who got paid double of my salary. So its common sense in kuwait its not about qualifications but how light your skin is! And hay guess who now sex offenders get teaching jobs to. Funny because all these low lifes from usa and uk come here because they cant get teaching jobs in their own country’s and parents pay so much not knowing that an unqualified teacher is teaching their kid! The mentality is oh my kids teachers are white so they are the best!

Its not an excuse its a fact. Were you incapable of understanding the qualification difference between a high school certificate and an MA from a top university from UK And im not trying to make myself feel better as i now have my own business with 10 employees. Yeah kuwaitie are racists but they sure love white color people and act like them as well.

The grammar and syntax in your posts is cringeworthy, sorry to say. *Their was a white teacher? Sex offenders get teaching jobs to*? Sheesh, I hope this isn’t true of every so-called qualified teachers.

+1 Maybe now you should understand why you’re being paid less than the other low lifes. I bet those ‘low lifes’ know that the plural of life is lives. LOL

lives
(lŹŒÉŖvz)
plural form of life.

Lol you people are so funny. I agree with sumaiya it is about the colour of your skin. Sumsang and whizbabe did it take you 1 hour to come up with that? Ever herd of this thing called auto correct which corrects your words while you type?? Well its done that for me on a number of occasions corrects words which don’t need correcting. You must have a lot of free time going and checking peoples grammar mistakes. Well educated novelist have grammar mistakes. I guess the world is doomed because you two are on grammar police duty. Omg I have grammar mistakes in my post let me go kill myself now. People like you two is what’s wrong with the world.

Have I ‘herd’ of auto correct? Yes I’ve ‘heard’ of it, but I tend to know how to spell homophones. (That’s not gay phones in case you are confused).

No one is correcting grammar just for the sake of correcting grammar. You completely missed the point. While I agree with Somaiya’s assertions, I don’t believe she’s qualified to be an educator. Since she’s claiming she is qualified to be an educator, we are highlighting her bad writing skills as a good example of why she shouldn’t be teaching kids. Also, it’s “autocorrect” not “autogrammar”. I’m sorry but I don’t think “autocorrect” is distorting her grammar. While I do agree with Somaiya’s assertions, I believe she is bitter because of her own personal experience. If you take her bitterness and add it to the fact that her writing skills wouldn’t qualify her to graduate from middle school, I don’t think she’s the right person to be making generalizations. No one is asking you to kill yourself because of your grammar mistakes. But we don’t expect you to brag about your masters degree from a top university and claim that you are qualified to be a teacher. The only thing wrong with the world is prideful ignorance. I’m sure you’re capable of inferring what that means.

+1 Autocorrect would not change “there” to “their” FYI. These are homonyms which are commonly misused by many people. Considering I edit text for a living, it is only right that I spend a lot of time correcting spelling errors.

I think you should give back your MA because your writing skills are horrendous. Don’t throw bricks when your house is made of glass. I would rather have a low life teaching my kids than a person who can’t write properly. The “top university” that gave you a masters degree should be stripped of its accreditation.

You would rather have a sex offender/rapist teach your kids than somebody who made a few grammatical errors writing a comment on the internet? Exaggerate much? You Kuwaitis deserve your shitty corrupt dysfunction in all its glory.

You got that right Sumaiya! EVERY company I have ever come across pays more to white people too regardless of qualification. (SOME) Kuwaitis love whites and think acting them like makes them white too. All together white trash rules. Welcome to AMERICA.

with all due to respect that’s not true in Kuwait we care less about ur color ur hair ur nails or whatever we mostly care about you education and experience im sorry but you can go and talk about something that is not true and btw we r here talking about a crazy man running freely where he suppose to be behind bar not Kuwait this Kuwait that and secondly I don’t blame Kuwait even though im not a Kuwaiti citizen this is crap and totally wrong ooh and btw Kuwaiti people are not white or blonde hair so why do they judge you because of your color??? sorry but you don’t make and sense

So this was the story my friend was talking about
This is a very weird thing because most of the population is dark skinned not black but dark skinned
Not trying to be racist but it’s true
And you should go teach in Dubai I heard it’s great there

i’m not saying that applies to you, and certainly it IS true (unfortunately). but lately, I’ve been seeing the whole “Kuwaitis are racist” being said everywhere, even when thats not true in that person’s case, even when that person IS under qualified.

Until every company here can claim and practice “Equal opportunity employment”, it is not possible to take what you say seriously.

Unfortunately very few schools here do proper background checks , even fewer get their staff on proper work visas ( this man simply walked into kuwait and into a school and into a classroom on a VISIT visa- go figure). This also seems to date back as far as 2001 from this BBC story about the same man ( from same county – Lancashire) and this time as a child minder
https://www.thenewsminute.com/news_sections/1218
When will whoever it is in the Ministry of Private Education (who is blatantly ignoring teachers working on VISIT visas) step up and do their job properly before another child is harmed?
I would also like to know what the British Ambassador has to say on the matter as this man is presumably a UK citizen.
Thanks Mark for posting this very important story.

Slightly off topic but… LOL this is what he was teaching the kids at UAS…

He also spells reference…. refrance

https://uasgradesixdepartment.weebly.com/social-studies.html
Discuss the origins of Christianity in the Jewish Messianic prophecies, the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as described in the New Testament, and the contribution of St. Paul the Apostle to the definition and spread of Christian beliefs.Ā 
Examples: belief in the Trinity, resurrection, and salvationĀ 

according to the radio it was exposed this afternoon mark got nothing i dont know why people think he is the law or somebody,it was on the radio, he said he was told few days back then why the hell ur not sharing this imagin if your kids were in that school how would u feel buddy…most schools does not get background checks,,,,end of story….. check the Canadian bilingual school in Khitan and u will know exactly what i mean.

Mark never said he was the news. He is sharing a highly IMPORTANT issue.
Who are you, the blog police?

We all appreciate Mark sharing this story. It was tweeted six days ago. Mark was right in holding back until a UK tabloid exposed him.

No Haley- yet another school has let him ‘go’…. Someone needs to grow some and report these paedos to the authorities ( even if they do risk a charge for breaking visa employee offences).
Meanwhile he could be anywhere really under any one of his assumed names –
Paul Meekin
Colin Meekin
Colin Cornes
Paul Colin Meekin
Paul Francis Meekin
Perhaps someone with some wasta could inform the airport authorities just in case he hasn’t left the country yet. I’m sure they could entertain him there. Scum that he is .

nope, apparently not and as a mother, I find it very alarming that a groomer is on the loose.

alias names…

Dr (yes, you read that correctly)… DR C
Dr Colin Cornes
Dr Calvin Colin
Dr Collins
Colin Paul Cornes
Paul Meekin
Paul Francis Meekin
Paul Meakin

And no, apparently he didn’t turn up for work today.

he was working in Uas who found out the truth and didn’t alert th authorities

the alhayat bilingual school found out of the news and the principal alerted the authorities right away

Unfortunalty this person was my children’s ‘headmaster’ at Trio World School in Bangalore where we were based as expats. There is plenty of information on the Internet with regard to his previous ‘teaching’ jobs. I believe he has also worked in Thailand and Dubai. I am so pleased he has been rumbled in Kuwait. The more information on the Internet about him and his behaviour the harder it will be for him to continue to ‘teach’ around the world.

Mark seriously thank you for alerting us on such cases. as a father we tend to forget how some ppl can be cruel to kids.

Background checks were not carried out on him at Trio, Bangalore either. None of the staff were checked. When the story broke some teachers were not very happy that they were going to be subjected to retrospective checks. If you have nothing to hide, why worry? As an expat parent at the school at the time his behaviour came to light I can not convey the shock we felt and the impact it had on the school and other parents. Having to sit our children down and have conversations about whether anything might have happened to them is every parents worst nightmare. Colin Cornes/Paul Meekin is a dangerous man and should not be working with children. He will tell you whatever he thinks you want to hear and try to befriend you. I too have been ‘following’ him on the Internet. At point he had a fake profile on LinkedIn and public ally submitted a CV to another international school claiming to have worked at the British History Museum – at the time he was actually teaching in Bangalore. I discovered he was listed as a teacher at UAS, I knew it was him as once again he was calling himself Dr C!!! With no photographic evidence I felt it very difficult to contact the school. I did however alert the police in Bangalore. He is very Internet savvy and will probably read these posts – I hope he is feeling the heat!

This pervert did teach my kid last year!!! On first impression i wrote him as an ego maniac and i was bracing myself for a turblent year because my kid is strong willed and outspoken…our first meeting he did tell me he taught in several places including Banglor! I wasn’t aware of his history at the time. We did clash and I placed a complaint because he told me one thing regarding a homework and when my kid presented the homework he tore it. I remember clearly when I went to speak to him I saw a bunch of boys in his class room and he was in a hurry to get rid of me! God if I had only knew then!
There were many complaints from parents about him because of his teaching and I thought at the time the school terminated his contract because of the many complaints. My kid who got A’s & B’s ended the year with a D!
Later in summer one of my kids friend sent a broadcast about Paul Meekins and his case in Banglor. The Kid also sent a broadcast of a screenshot conversation he had with the pervert! I still don’t understand why a teacher gives out his number to his students???!!
The kid showed him the link of the article and asked if it was true and what did “Dr C” says? It was my twin brother who got me in a lot of trouble and I had to change my name!
However, and that’s to school administrations… Didn’t he raise the alarm when they saw in his qualifications he was jumping from one place to the other?
It was either he was and is a bad teacher or he was running from something! Pervert!
Unfortunately I don’t think the authorities will do anything since there are no charges against him here unless “God forbids” he has harmed a child and the parents placed a complaint against him.

I don’t even need to see a picture, from what you say this is the same Colin Cornes/Paul Meekin I knew in Bangalore! I’m so glad I stumbled on this blog and parents are now aware.

How would anyone know if he “harmed a child” if the school says do not talk about it?

Are you still sending your child to that school? dont you think the parents still have the right to make those people responsible for not doing anything???

No even better a concentration camp he was going to be my teacher this year
Also all he did was lie he said he owned a yacht was in the military and a bunch of other weird crap if he was here right now FALCON PUNCH

It is nice that Alhayat and the school in Bangalore informed the parents and authorities. The parents need a chance to talk to their possibly victimized students.
After concerned teachers at UAS brought it to the superintendent’s attention this fall, he sent out an email on October 29th that told teachers they were NOT to inform the parents or students.
It seems UAS not only brought the pedophile into the country, but then tried to cover it up. I really hope a UAS parent brings this to the attention of the Ministry of Education.

If the school, UAS learned in October that he was working again as a teacher in a different school in kuwait why didn’t they do anything? the students he spent the last year as their teacher were told that he was a good teacher and do not let the internet rumors make them think different. Is anyone investigating what he did with the students at that school during last year for 10 months?!

I think and hope this will mean massive changes to visas in schools. The number of teachers being employed on visit visas is horrendous. We mustn’t let this drop. Something has to be done about this man. While I appreciate Matthew saying that they are working with UK Authoritis and Kuwait Police, as mothers and parents, we have a right to know if this man has a) left the country or b) been arrested or c)nobody has any idea.
If there is a paedophile on the loose, UK news would have it up on Sky News Breaking News with an alert…

we have a right to know.
someone needs to find out if this man has been arrested and Mark, we need updates; please, don’t let this just be swept under the carpet and forgotten.

Yes I agree. Where is he?
Thank you to the UK ambassador for answering. However, our fears akd questions were not really addressed. We need to know if UK police are investigating this man, has he left the country, if not, where is he?

If anyone wants the latest pic from Uas yearbook post your email and I will
Send it. As for the fugitive. He has escaped Kuwait and went to Bulgaria. This has
Been published in an Arabic newspaper. Bravo Uas. You helped a pedophile go to another
School in Kuwait and escape to other schools to continue. Bravo.

Prettypies – we just heard Turkey. Can you confirm Bulgaria?
Ditto- well done UAS- can we have the Ministry of education investigate that please?
Perhaps we need to be tweeting Bulgarian authorities ?

The report in the KuwaitTimes is not accurate. The bilingual school DID know in October that he was wanted! They WERE informed and they denied that he was the same man!

“Annonymous” can you get a copy of that email sent by the UAS superintendent??

What did UAS do to protect the children at their school OR the new school where he was working?

Absolute BS in that Arab Times story – who writes that nonsense ?
Al Rai newspaper yesterday did the real story plus picture and all the aliases

Dhanya,

I applaud your efforts, however, some of the details in the updated story are slightly inaccurate. Since October, both schools were aware of the internet reports of his accounts in India. UAS knew he was at Al Hayat Bilingual, and the Al Hayat school denied it was the same man. They are now covering up for their lack of doing anything about it. Both schools chose not to “get” him when they still could. Now he has left Kuwait and is free to prey on other innocent children.

Another UAS teacher has “disappeared” from work after being arrested and deported for lewd behaviour. The school has not “officially” informed the staff, let alone the parents and students.

He was actually my teacher back in the 6th grade, in UAS, if anyone has any questions about him be free to ask as I can provide answers. We, students, learned about this in the 7th grade, right at the beginning of the year, when one of my students (who was also one of my friends) spread it around the school, in which it got so bad, the principal was called to classrooms to tell everyone not to speak about it.
He refereed to himself as Dr.Colin Cornes, he said he was a veteran of the Falkland wars, he was very, very unusual in his teaching tactics, although I must admit he was funny, doing all sorts of skits (to please his sexual desire?) such as wrapping a student in TP to represent a mummy, making students take off shoes and act by carrying water with our hands to grow crops, he was not a really bad teacher to be completely honest, complaints came from the parents of students who could not learn that way and needed the methodical way of learning to help them. He was also very strict, a single word and you’re in the back of the class facing the wall our outside the classroom, in this school I know the insides and outsides of the building itself, to all news, rumors or truth being spread, as me and my friend are always on the look for those, he was not, according to our knowledge, molested or tried to to a student, but he did try hitting on a teacher if I remember correctly (maybe it wasn’t him). And after the arrests in Bangladesh were found by students trying to find his fantasy stories (he was always telling us stories about how he climbed mountains, swam the Niagara, etc), teachers quickly got the rumor, tried the superintendent, and yet nothing was made of the situation. If anyone needs any information or yearbook pictures I have 3 pictures and tons of information.

I do also have information and pictures of teachers up to 10 years back, as I entered this school during Nursery.

Abount the teacher problem that everyone is talking about is true and yah they just take anyone and not see their backgroung and he used to make up storeis and teach them wrong facts and made up lessons!!!

in my opinion the school is nice but the problem Is the people in it. I graduated from this school, the education system was amazing. but the people aren’t, for instance the boys fight a lot for silly reasons. the girls are so careless and only care about makeup and food. they treat teachers so bad. But founding out this incident happened in 2013 is ew.

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