Man jailed in smuggling case

Mohammed Yaseen, Staff Reporter

The Dubai Misdemeanours and Violations Court convicted an Asian investor who smuggled 213,000 cans of unauthorised energy drinks from the customs office in Jebel Ali, and sentenced him to one year in jail to be followed by deportation after serving his jail term.

According to the case file, a 42-year-old Asian investor smuggled an energy drink shipment valued at Dhs106,000, after storing it in a warehouse belonging to his company in the Al Qusais Industrial Area, without paying Dhs53,000, the value of customs, as the drink was not authorised to be sold inside the UAE because it does not match the standards of the market.

An official at the Federal Customs Authority testified in the prosecution’s interrogations that reliable information was received about the investor smuggling the aforementioned shipment from the Jebel Ali Free Zone, after he stored it in a warehouse in the Al Qusais Industrial Area.

A team was formed from the Federal Customs Authority and the Federal Tax Authority to track the shipment, until it was seized in the warehouse.

On being questioned, the investor admitted that he bought the shipment from a company in the Jebel Ali area, and did not have any documents related to it.

He denied his intention to sell it inside the UAE, adding that he kept it in his own warehouse, to export it outside the country.