Year in prison for luggage scheme

An Emirates Airline employee and a Nigerian traveller were convicted yesterday of fraudulently allowing more than 2,000kg of luggage aboard Lagos-bound flights.

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DUBAI // An Emirates Airline employee and a Nigerian traveller were convicted yesterday of fraudulently allowing more than 2,000kg of luggage aboard Lagos-bound flights. They will be spending a year in prison, and the employee was ordered to pay Dh2,100 in damages. D M, a passenger services worker, agreed to accept Dh10 per kilogram to check through, free of charge, the overweight luggage of K A, a frequent Nigerian traveller.

The airline's fee for overweight luggage is Dh100 a kilogram. D M then falsified the records of passengers travelling with underweight luggage to reflect K A's extra kilograms. According to the airline's auditors, between March and May the two defrauded the airline of Dh26,000 in overweight-baggage charges. The defendants had denied charges of forging electronic documents and bribery in the Dubai Criminal Court of First Instance on August 30 but were found guilty and sentenced yesterday.

amustafa@thenational.ae