UAE | Crime

Abu Dhabi police foil international ring's human trafficking attempt

Abu Dhabi police said on Friday they foiled an attempt by an international organised crime ring, which was trying to smuggle Asian nationals to Europe through UAE airports.

  • WAM
  • Published: 23:30 November 21, 2008
  • Gulf News

Abu Dhabi: Abu Dhabi police said on Friday they foiled an attempt by an international organised crime ring, which was trying to smuggle Asian nationals to Europe through UAE airports.

The human trafficking ring was run by a group of trans-continental criminals, police said, adding they had taken advantage of loopholes in passenger transfer procedures used by some international airlines.

"None of the masterminds of this crime were based in the UAE and they were secretly running operations from two Gulf countries," said Major Abdul Rahman Al Sakkaf of the Abu Dhabi Criminal Investigation Department. He did not name the Gulf countries.

He said, on September 22 this year, a tip off led to the arrest of two Asian passengers attempting to illegally travel to Europe on a European airline. The gang got two passengers who were originally booked on the flight to get down at the UAE airport and the Asians took their seats, police said.

Investigations showed that the two Asians had each paid Dh40,000. They were headed for Holland.

One of the passengers who gave his seat to one of the illegal immigrants, was a British national of Asian origin. He was later nabbed in Sharjah. The police discovered during the initial investigations that he had run the show for a year, sending people illegally to Europe and receiving money for his services. It was also found that he had a criminal record in his country.

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