DUBAI: Two customs officers and three Arab nationals were intercepted smuggling goats into the UAE, the Dubai Public Prosecution revealed on Wednesday. Both the inspection shift’s manager and his subordinate abused their duties and pocketed Dhs120,000 worth of bribes from two men to condone 22 goat smuggling operations in 2016. A shipment of goats was intercepted at 7am after crossing Hatta Border crossing point, explained the acting head of the Public Funds Prosecution, Counselor Doctor Waleed Al Hosni. A senior officer received a call from an inspector alerting him that he had spotted the shift’s manager illicitly allowing the truck to cross without inspection.
The truck had writing on it indicating that it was transporting refrigerated fish. The inspector suspected it because the last fish van daily crosses the point at 3am. The officer told the inspector to intercept it. Its driver – the fifth suspect – declined to respond to the parking request, vroomed and entered the country. Criminal pursuers chased it and stopped it 2km deep into the country. Investigations revealed the driver had received a Dhs1,000 payment for smuggling the shipment. Also, both the manager and his subordinate had received bribes from the other two men. They had managed to smuggle more than 20 shipments from Eid Al Fitr period until the date of their arrest. Further investigations showed they had earlier smuggled in 77 shipments.
During interrogations, the subordinate confessed to the 20 operations, adding that he and his senior received Dhs5, 000 on each successful operation. Both inspectors have been jailed for one year and ordered to pay a Dhs120,000 fine besides the confiscation of Dhs12,300 (worth the cost of goats seized during the arrest operation). The court ordered the three convicted Arab men be deported. Some of the goats had diseases and were exterminated as they posed threats to public health.
