Lankan couple jailed in Dubai for bribing immigration officer

Friday, 28 December 2012 00:01 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

The Dubai Criminal Court of First Instance sentenced a Sri Lankan couple to six months in jail for offering Dh 10,000 as a bribe to an immigration officer at the Dubai International Airport, requesting him to allow the woman to depart the country in spite of an entry and exit ban issued against her by the UAE authorities. The couple was ordered to be deported after serving their jail term.

According to the records, saleswoman, FMT, 39, confessed that in 1996 she entered the country on a maid’s visa and then she fled from her employer. She was deported in 2000 after spending two months jail for using forged documents and absconding from her employer.

In 2008, she entered the country on a visit visa. She exited the country and re-entered on the sponsorship of her husband AFY, 59, salesman. She left the country and re-entered on a work permit sponsored by a stationery shop where she worked until attempting to leave on 12 August 2012 when she knew that she was under a ban.

She asked the immigration officer to help her and offered him Dh 10,000 bribe to allow her to depart. She gave the officer with her husband’s mobile number and said he will pay the amount. She was arrested while attempting to travel using a forged passport. She confessed to getting it from a Sri Lankan after giving him with her photo and Dh 1,000.

Corporal KS testified that while was on duty, a passenger was referred to him by the immigration desk which suspected that she was a blacklisted person.

“While she was in the office, she offered me the bribe. I checked the system and found out that she had been deported with re-entry ban in 2000 for using forged documents. I told my seniors who asked me to continue talking to her. She gave her husband’s mobile number who, when contacted on phone, came to a coffee shop in the airport in five minutes. He put the money in a spectacle box and put it on the table.

“After counting the amount which was Dh 10,000, police entered and arrested him,” the officer testified. (Source: Emirates 24/7)