Dubai Customs’ inspectors at Dubai International Airport managed to foil a smuggle attempt carried out by a passenger coming from an Africa state of fake traveler’s checks in Dollar and Euro with a total value of DHS12 million, as well as a number of fake bank checks.
Mr. Ali Maqhawi, Director of the Custom’s Airport Operations mentioned that one of the female inspectors in the airport’s terminal 3 suspected the passenger’s bag. She manually inspected it and found 3471 fake traveller’s check papers.
The value of the dollar traveller’s checks mounted to $ 1.032 million (Dhs 3.79 million), and all of them were of the 500 dollar category. The other Euro checks had a value of 1.68 million Euros (Dhs 8.33 million) and were in 500 and 200 Euro categories. There were also 174 bank checks suspected of being fake as well. They were all hidden inside three cartoon boxes in the clothes bag.
Al Maqhawi added that the passenger was carrying a passport of an African state with a “businessman” in the occupation column, and during the investigation he denied any connection with the checks claiming that he received them from one of the passengers at departure’s airport because he had excess weight in luggage, and that he was supposed to return them to him at arrival in Dubai.
The passenger was transferred to public administration for airport security at Dubai police to take the suitable procedures against him.
The traveller’s checks in Euro. Director of the Custom’s Airport Operations said that forging traveller’s checks and credit cards started to grow recently. Some people would try to market these fake credits in flourished markets.
Despite being secure in cases of loss or theft, traveller’s checks are not immune to forgery, and this would harm the company that issued them in the first place and the economy in general. Many people prefer to use traveller’s checks for a number of reasons that include: safety and availability in a number of currencies, prompt compensation for stolen or lost checks, as well as the international wide acceptance to them. For these reasons, forgers use them to buy valuables such as jewellery.
Al Maqhawi expressed his pride in inspection staff, and their high customs skills that improve day by day. Thanks to the support they receive from the department whether in terms of securing a perfect work environment for them, or through training workshops and courses they take regularly, inspectors prove that they are always alerted and prepared to thwart all types of smuggling attempts.