Dubai Customs officials on trial for taking bribe

Two Dubai Customs officials are facing trial for allegedly taking bribes of Dh120,000, in return for unlawfully allowing shipments of sheep through the Hatta border point.
According to public prosecution records, the inspector and shift manager at the Dubai Customs, aged 26 and 34, did unlawful favours by abusing their positions. The two employees are also charged in the Court of First Instance with helping and abetting three Omanis evade customs.
The Omanis - a jobless, a businessman and a policeman - are accused of being accomplices in the bribery charge and importing shipments of sheep on 23 different occasions violating legal procedures. The complaint was opened on August 27, 2016.
An inspection officer said he seized a shipment of 250 sheep coming from Oman. "We had had information that the first accused, with the help of the manager, was smuggling sheep through Hatta border point without carrying out the routine inspection procedure.
"I got a phone call from my colleague saying that he just spotted a truck that had a sticker reading fish freezer passing without stopping by the entry permits point and without going through the routine search process."
The officer then told his colleague to stop the truck.
However, the two officers had to chase the truck for about two to three kilometres after it crossed the border as its driver did not obey the instruction to stop.
The driver told the officers that they had a prior agreement with the main accused and that they entered with his permission. When ordered to open the truck, he did not obey instantly but when he did, lots of sheep were seen stacked inside. He said he was to be paid Dh1,000 for the delivery of sheep. The driver said they used to drop the animals at a farm in Ajman. He also claimed that the two customs employees on trial were collecting money for letting them smuggle the sheep.
mary@khaleejtimes.com