Man sentenced to 10 years in jail, fined Dhs1m on arms trafficking charges in Abu Dhabi

Gulf Today, Staff Reporter

The Abu Dhabi Criminal Court sentenced a man to 10 years in jail and fined him Dhs1 million on charges of illegal trafficking in firearms and ammunition.

The court also ordered the seized items to be confiscated and obligated the convict to pay the costs and expenses resulting from the disposal of the confiscated items.

The convict was engaged in trafficking in firearms and sonic bullets without obtaining a licence from the competent authorities.

He put up the pictures of such firearms and ammunition on social media sites for sale.

The security agencies received a tip-off to this effect and a secret agent communicated with the convict as somebody interested in buying such items.

After agreeing with the convict on the price and place of delivery, the secret agent obtained a search warrant from the public prosecution to catch the convict and search him and his place of residence.

After searching the convict’s place of residence, a collection of items were found including a fully functional and usable automatic rifle in addition to ammunition and bullets used on weapons of the same calibre and a number of sonic bullets. During the interrogation the convict confessed to the charges levelled against him.

According to article 3/1 of federal decree law 17 for 2019, no weapons, ammunition, explosives, military hardware or hazardous substances may be possessed, acquired, obtained, carried, imported, exported, re-exported, traded, manufactured, repaired, transported or disposed of in any way unless a licence or permit to this effect has been obtained from the licensing authority or the concerned entity.