Dubai Customs’ inspectors at Dubai International Airport Terminal 3 have foiled attempts to smuggle 28 fraudulent documents. Twenty-five fake visas were intercepted with a passenger coming from an Asian country. The vigilant officers also seized three forged African passports in a separate smuggling bid.
According to Ali Al Mugahwi, Director of Airport Operations Department at Dubai Customs, the seizure of the 25 fake visas took place when one of the inspectors suspected an Asian passenger as the latter stepped into Customs inspection area of Dubai International Airport Terminal 3. Before starting the routine process of luggage inspection, the officer asked the passenger if he had anything to declare. The passenger denied anxiously. But the alert inspector was suspicious of the commuter’s gestures who showed signs of worry and nervousness while talking to the officer. So the inspector became even more wary that the passenger was carrying prohibited items. He immediately searched inside his baggage and found a number of entry permits to some Asian countries. It turned out later that these visas were not genuine. The suspect was attempting to get the fraudulent documents into the UAE for the purpose of delivering them later to other people in exchange for sums of money.
In a separate interception, Customs inspectors at Terminal 3 apprehended another passenger of African nationality. Checking the suspect’s baggage, the officers uncovered three African passports which were scanned out as fake. The passenger was hiding the forged passports inside a book in his belongings. The vigilant inspectors detected, through the screening machine, an abnormally thick book, which raised their suspicions that the passenger was hiding in something illegal. The officers opened up the book only to find three fraudulent passports hidden carefully in its hollow cover. The papers were issued from an African country.
Following investigation with the two passengers by specialized investigators at the Passengers Investigation Office of the Airports Operations Department, it turned out that both suspects were intending to hand over the fraudulent visas and passports to other individuals within the UAE who would use them for illegal purposes. Subsequently, the passengers together with the seized documents and the investigation reports were referred to the Office of the General Directorate of Residency and Foreigners Affairs in DXB terminal 3 to take appropriate actions against the violators.
Al Mugahwi said that “smugglers often follow oblique ways to make money fast. They try to fool the Customs officers using new deceitful methods, but the vigilance and wide knowhow of our watchful inspectors prevent all such illicit traffic attempts. These competent officers have developed remarkable skills in the art of suspicion, allowing them to monitor the movements of passengers arriving at the airport and meticulously detect any suspicious cases, without in any way affecting the ease of clearance procedures.”
He stressed the continued efforts of Dubai Customs to detect such crimes that jeopardize national security by trafficking internationally prohibited items and fraudulent official documents. Prevention of smuggling is fundamental to DC’s strategic vision with respect to protecting community members locally and worldwide. In this regard, Al Mugahwi commended the inspectors' high attention to implementing the most advanced security measures in all Customs points to uphold the image of Dubai and the UAE.
Dubai Customs is keen to educate its staff and raise their awareness about the counterfeiting of official documents by violators. The inspectors are constantly trained to be able to detect false papers of all kinds. Forgery detection training courses are organized in collaboration with DC partners and external experts to empower the inspectors to differentiate fake from original documents and identify the tricks used by offenders. DC’s inspection officers have proved to be highly efficient when dealing with similar cases, as they have previously managed to foil numerous bids to smuggle false papers into the UAE and other countries.