Man forged passport and driving licence in smuggling bid

DUBAI // A man forged a visa, passport and driving licence and then used them to rent a car to smuggle alcohol, a court heard.

N M, 33, was caught out when he was involved in an accident and fled because the car was loaded with alcohol, it was alleged at Dubai Criminal Court.

The defendant visited a rental company on August 14 last year and rented a Nissan Tida for five months. He left copies of a passport and a visit visa as well as a driving licence as a guarantee.

Two weeks later police contacted the rental firm and told them the car was involved in an accident and the driver fled because it was loaded with 24 bottles of alcohol.

The car rental employee N K, 30, gave the documents to police and it was found that they were forged.

N M, who is from India, denied making the forgeries at Dubai Criminal Court on Thursday but confessed to using them at the car rental and to fraudulently obtaining the car as well as smuggling 24 bottles of alcohol for the purposes of bootlegging.

A verdict is expected on December 30.