Dubai driver found not guilty of importing logs of endangered red sandalwood

DUBAI // A 45-year-old driver who was charged with importing 600 logs of endangered red sandalwood was found not guilty on Monday morning by Dubai Criminal Court.

Pakistani A B denied the charge in court in May 2013 and said that someone else had imported the wood and his role was only to get it through customs.

He was charged with importing an endangered type of wood without obtaining proper approvals and also of forging the documents of the wood shipment as well as smuggling the wood into the country illegally to evade paying customs taxes.

The court was told that the documents of the shipment failed to mention that it included the endangered wood logs, only stating that it was a shipment of onions.

The head of sea shipping operations at Jebel Ali Port, M G, 42, said that a tip-off about a container was received saying that it had wood that was banned from importing according to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) agreement.

An X-ray showed that onion bags were placed around the outside of the container, with the middle area filled with the sandalwood.

M G said that the owner of the shipment was contacted but no one answered.

He added that he coordinated with the Ministry of Environment to lodge an official complaint with police. Investigations then led to the defendant, who used the shipment documents to get the container beyond customs.

The court ordered the confiscation of the wood.

salamir@thenational.ae