Dubai: A salesperson has been jailed for one year for forging papers of the Ministry of Climate Change and Environment and a customs manifest to import two dogs.
A veterinary doctor at the Dubai International Airport kept the two dogs that were imported from Brazil in the special quarantine section in August 2017.
Two hours later, when the veterinarian went to examine the dogs, which belonged to a breed found no mention in the records, he discovered that they had been released from quarantine and handed over to the importer.
When the doctor went to check with the airport’s customs section, he discovered that the papers that were handed over to the desk to release the dogs were forged.
The doctor discovered that the stamps and signatures on the papers issued from the ministry and the customs department were forged.
Police’s preliminary investigation led to the arrest of the 26-year-old Syrian salesperson who had submitted the papers and took the dogs out of the airport.
On Sunday, the Dubai Court of First Instance convicted the defendant of forging official papers and using them.
The 26-year-old accused had pleaded not guilty and told the court that he didn’t forge any papers.
According to Sunday’s ruling, presiding judge Mohammad Jamal ordered that the forged papers be seized and the accused be deported after serving his jail sentence.
The defendant appealed the primary ruling immediately after the hearing.
The veterinary doctor testified that he is stationed at the airport where his duty requires him to check on the health conditions of imported animals.
“I kept the two dogs in the quarantine section to examine them and left. When I returned around two hours later, I discovered that the dogs had been released. I communicated with the customs office at the airport to check the papers that had been submitted to release the dogs… the ministry and custom’s manifest turned out to be forged,” he said.
The 26-year-old was quoted telling prosecutors that he forged the ministry’s stamp and manifest and used the forged papers to take the dogs out of the airport without a medical check-up.
