Staff at Dubai airport steals 25 new smartphones, replaces them with old ones

Dubai - In another incident, a whole box of phones was emptied and filled with just covers of phones.

A PRO, who was assigned with inspecting shipments when he allegedly embezzled 25 smartphones, was charged at the Dubai Court of First Instance.

Dubai public prosecution accused the 38-year-old Jordanian inspector, who works with a private firm, of misappropriating the consignment belonging to a Kuwaiti man while on his job at the Dubai International Airport.

The case dates back to June 9.

A Jordanian manager said they received a consignment of 408 smartphones from China on June 9. "An employee (not the defendant) checked the phones to see that it was all still wrapped as it came from the manufacturers. The employee handed over the phones to the accused to check again whether there was any apparent damage from shipping."

On June 10, after re-shipping the phones to Kuwait, the owner informed them that there are 25 phones which were old, damaged and which he did not order.

The manager told the investigator that the owner had then come to Dubai to follow-up on his complaint.

"We previously faced a problem related to a consignment of phones between Dubai and Kuwait. A whole cardboard box of phones was emptied and filled with just covers of phones of another brand with the same weight. Back then we could not identify who was behind that tampering with the goods."

The manager pointed out that they then checked the surveillance cameras. "The defendant was caught on cameras stealing the phones and replacing them with old and damaged ones. He smuggled the phones out on several occasions while distracting the other employees. Outside the warehouse, he would replace the items and re-wrap them."

The relevant CCTV footage was enclosed to the case file as prosecution evidence.

The trial has been adjourned to December 8.

mary@khaleejtimes.com

• Dubai