Dubai, UAE: A director is held for conducting a cigarette smuggling operation worth Dh140 million over two years.
The director of a company in the Jebel Ali free zone Port has been referred to Dubai court on charges of smuggling cigarettes, Arabic daily Emarat Al Youm reported.
The man is accused by Dubai Customs of avoiding charges at Jebel Ali Free Zone in order to get undeclared cigarettes onto the local market.
The head of Bur Dubai Prosecution Sami Salim Al Shamsi confirmed that the total amount of customs charges due on these smuggled cigarettes is about 140 million dirhams.
The accused smuggled cigarettes without completing necessary procedures and customs clearance procedures.
Al Shamsi said, “The company’s manager outsmarted Mirsal 2, the e-customs declaration system, and made 237 transactions and smuggled into the local market different brands of cigarettes during two years.”
The prosecution stressed that the defendant smuggle of cigarettes of different species outside the free zone of Jebel Ali without ending the customs procedures, and without following the specific ways in getting them outside the port.
Dubai Customs hired auditing experts, who conducted their own questioning and discovered the process of customs evasion that was committed by the suspect. He tried to elude the customs’ questioning a number of times.
However, Khalid Amin Al Zarouni the supervisor of the investigation disclosed that the different brands of cigarettes that the suspect smuggled into the market without paying customs fees have high customs value.
Zarouni said, “Suspects who evade customs fees on these kinds of expensive products, could end up facing a fine that could reach 200 per cent according to GCC’s Unified Customs Law and its bylaws and its clarification memorandum of 2003.”
The accounting reports issued by the competent department at Dubai Customs confirmed that the defendant committed the crime of smuggling.
He added as well the public prosecution reviewed the companies that the accused dealt with them where all of them confirmed the existence of such transactions between them and the company of the accused.
Al- Zaraouni stressed on the ease of these procedures requires that all companies operating in free zones and customs areas comply with all procedures provided by the Common Customs Law of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC).
The accused will be soon put on trail.
© Emiarates 24/7
Twitter