ABU DHABI // An Omani man was jailed by the State Security Court for his part in a gang that used fake documents to rent high-end cars from Abu Dhabi and Dubai, then smuggle them to Oman for sale in Yemen.
Salim Ali al Makhmari, 19, was found guilty of smuggling people - the gang members - into the country. He was sentenced to three months in jail and fined Dh5,000. He will be deported once his sentence is served. State Security Court verdicts are not subject to appeal.
Two other Omanis, SKh, 50, and KhR, 26, were given no additional sentences for entering the country illegally and forgery, because they had previously been tried and convicted for their part in the gang by the Abu Dhabi Criminal Court of First Instance.
The trial hinged on the testimony of SKh, who said he was part of a larger ring that operated in the UAE, Oman and Yemen.
SKh said he was in Yemen when a friend, TQ, asked him to travel to the UAE to steal cars.
TQ told him to meet a third man, KhR, in Al Mazyona province in south Oman. He gave SKh two photos that KhR used for fake IDs.
The two then drove to Dubai through the Hatta border crossing, using the fake IDs to cross.
Once in the UAE, SKh's job was to rent the cars using a fake UAE driving licence and ID card. He would then take them back across the border - at either the Hatta crossing or Buraimi, depending on where they were stolen - to Al Mazyona. There, he would be paid Dh3,000 for each car.
He was arrested on June 25 last year in Musaffah with a stolen Toyota Land Cruiser, after police received a tip that a group of Omanis were renting cars with the intent to smuggle them outside the country. He confessed to police and prosecutors that he had rented several more cars and taken them to Oman.
The Land Cruiser had been rented from Al Kawakib rental shop using a fake licence and ID card that bore photos of SKh and an Emirati surname, al Katbi.
Forensic reports showed the fake cards were professional enough to deceive untrained eyes. Following SKh's arrest, several others were arrested, along with many cars. Most were tried in the criminal courts last year.