Airport staffer admits taking Dh2,100 bribe to allow excess luggage

Dubai: A former member of Emirates airlines ground staff on Monday admitted in court she had accepted Dh2,100 in bribes to allow a male passenger to check in 390kg of extra luggage by listing it as belonging to other travellers without their knowledge.

Prosecutors accused the 30-year-old Kenyan of accepting Dh2,100 in bribes to allow a 30-year-old Nigerian passenger, K.A., to unlawfully check in 15 bags of excess luggage on three separate occasions.

The Kenyan passenger, identified as D.M., was also accused of defrauding Emirates airlines of more than Dh26,000. This is the amount Emirates would have made if the Dh100 tariff for each extra kilogrammes of luggage had been paid.

"Yes, I took the money from him to allow him to consign the excess luggage on the flight ... I am guilty," said D.M., speaking in a regretful voice when she appeared before the Dubai Court of First Instance.

D.M. also admitted to forgery and misusing electronic documents.

According to the charge sheet, prosecutors said D.M., a public servant at Emirates airlines, accepted bribes during the course of her duties. She was also charged with forging official electronic documents to distribute the passenger's excess luggage to other passengers.

K.A. also pleaded guilty. Speaking before Presiding Judge Hamad Abdul Latif Abdul Jawad in courtroom four yesterday, he said: "It is true. I am guilty and I paid her [a] bribe to consign my extra luggage ... but I didn't collaborate with her in forging the electronic official documents."

Prosecution records state that K.A. offered a bribe to D.M. and another female suspect named Agnes, who is at large, on several occasions. He offered Dh2,100 to D.M. and Dh1,200 to Agnes to waive his overweight luggage fees, and dispatch the bags to Lagos.

Prosecutors said D.M. breached her access rights to Emirates' electronic system by listing K.A.'s extra luggage with the boarding passes of other passengers.

A Yemeni first sergeant testified that an Emirates airlines supervisor reported that D.M. came to work on her day off and dispatched eight bags to Nigeria.

"During questioning, she confessed that she had accepted bribes to help K.A. consign his bags," the first sergeant told prosecutors.