Dubai: Three workers have been acquitted of falsifying documents to advertise in a newspaper that they worked for a pest control company.
The Egyptian trio, 37-year-old M.S., 26-year-old M.M. and 27-year-old H.S., were reportedly said to have provided an Arabic newspaper with a photocopy of a purported company that controls pests and exterminates animals (snakes and rodents) that affect public health in July.
The Dubai Court of First Instance cleared the trio of forgery and fined them Dh3,000 each for practising pest control without being permitted by Dubai Municipality.
The trio pleaded not guilty.
Prosecutors said the men illegally practised pest control without proper licences, and used forged documents.
A fourth suspect, who remained unidentified, remains at large.
“That did not happen at all … we did not do such a thing,” M.S. told the court.
Presiding judge Ezzat Abdul Lat said the forged documents and the seized pesticide materials will be confiscated.
An Emirati pest control officer alleged that they discovered the advertisement in an Arabic newspaper.
“As part of my job to control such ads, I called the supposed company that had placed the advertisement. The aforementioned company was not listed in Dubai Municipality’s records. When contacted, the newspaper informed me that the advertiser provided them with the copy of an authorisation to publish the advertisement issued from the municipality,” said the officer.
Records showed that the documents turned out to be forged.
The incident was reported to the police and the suspects were arrested for unlawfully practising pest control.
Thursday’s ruling remains subject to appeal within 15 days.
