Dubai, February 03: The Deira Prosecution has launched a probe after 1.8 tonnes of expired meat bearing validity stickers were seized last week.
Deira Chief Prosecutor Youssef Foulaz said on Wednesday that the meat was about to be distributed in the market .
“The stickers were changed to show that the meat was fit for consumption. There are five suspects including the main one who is at large,” Foulaz said.
Foulaz said the crime posed a threat to food security as meat was part of common diet. He called on the public to buy their basic commodities from places which were regularly subject to inspection. “We are still waiting for technical reports from the police and the municipality. We will not tolerate anyone who hampers the food security in the country for his own gain. It is a case that affects the society at large.”
The case involves four Bangladeshi workers and an Egyptian national who has absconded. Foulaz called on the absconder to surrender to the police as the search for him had been intensified across the country. The discrepancy was reported by a Syrian national who owned the container where the Egyptian kept the meat in Rashidiya.
The Syrian told the police that he saw the Bangladeshi workers removing the expired validity stickers and replacing them with extended ones.
The police and a food inspection team from the Dubai Municipality inspected the container. “The police officers and the DM inspectors learnt first-hand that the meat was contaminated. The four workers were arrested for interrogation.” Samples of the meat are being examined by the municipality inspectors.
The investigation conducted by prosecutor Abdullah Al Sherif showed that the Egyptian owned a factory in Ajman in which he kept his imports of frozen sliced meat. The factory distributes meat to warehouses in Rashidiya, Umm Rumoul and Ras Al Khor in Dubai. However, the country of origin has not been established yet.
The charges framed so far against the workers include forgery, fraud and endangering others’ lives. Some of them also breached the federal law of residency and foreigners affairs.
Those charges are not final as other accusations may be added or removed against the suspects depending on the incoming reports.
According to the law, whoever commits an act on purpose that may put others’ life or security, or health or freedom at risk should be jailed and fined.
–Agencies–