Dubai: Five men have been jailed for one year each for defrauding Emirates airline of Dh130,000 by forging 43 electronic tickets using credit cards of people living abroad.
The Dubai Court of First Instance incriminated the five Pakistani defendants, aged between 22 and 47, of using credit cards of individuals living in Australia and the US, phoning Emirates Airlines' call centre and making 43 electronic bookings.
Presiding Judge Maher Salama Al Mahdi said the accused will be deported after the completion of their punishments.
The defendants pleaded not guilty when they defended themselves. Two of the defendants, A.S. and M.A., used e-tickets and travelled to Karachi 43 times.
A.S. and M.K. claimed in court that they did not know that the e-tickets were forged.
According to the arraignment sheet, prosecutors said the defendants swindled and defrauded Dh130,000 from Emirates Airlines after the call centre's attendants processed the e-tickets based on false credit card details.
An Iranian safety and security officer at Emirates airline said the defendants purchased e-tickets using credit card details of people living outside the UAE.
"The defendants phoned the call centre and made bookings to Karachi. They said the credit card details belonged to them. A.S. and M.K. travelled on morning flights and returned the same evening," the Iranian claimed to prosecutors.
Organised gang
An Emirati police major said: "A.S. admitted to me that he travelled more than 20 times and that he worked for one of the suspects [34-year-old M.A.]. Another suspect confessed that he was part of an organised group of criminals who made bookings using credit card details of persons living abroad."
During prosecution questioning, A.S. was cited admitting that he and M.K. worked for M.A.
A.S. claimed that they used to take laptop bags [belonging to M.A.] to Karachi.
The primary judgement remains subject to appeal within 10 days.
