JEDDAH — The investigation division of the Jeddah Passport recently sealed off a fake air cargo company run by a Chad national at the Mina Street.
The expat conducted the illegal cargo business under the cover of a Saudi company which had license from the Civil Aviation Presidency, said Col. Muhammad Al-Asmari, director of Jeddah Passport's investigation wing.
The fake company specialized in transporting air cargo to the Central African countries and has been in operation for the last two years, said Al-Asmari.
The inquiries have also unearthed an agreement between the arrested expat and the Saudi sponsor to run an undercover cargo company, the security official said.
According to the contract a joint project named Nada, which specialized in business through the Chad Airlines without the knowledge of the airlines' official agents against a fee of SR172,000 for every trip. The practice was in violation of the Kingdom's airline and air cargo regulations, besides it involved commercial cover-up operations, the official said.
The Chad national, who is the director of the phony company, said his company's operations were in order because Nada was a branch of its main office operating in Chad while his operations in the Kingdom were based on a contract with a Saudi partner.
Meanwhile, sources at the licensed agency for the Chad Airlines said the airlines suffered a loss of over SR8 millions because of the operations of the illegal air cargo company for the last two years. The official agency will be suing for damages as its contract stipulated that all the sales agencies in the Kingdom should deal with the approved agency alone, the source said.
The bills issued by the illegal establishment were enough to implicate Nada and its Saudi partner in the commercial cover-up. The company also used a signboard indicating that it was an official agent of the foreign airlines.
The investigating official added that his team secretly observed the illegal activities of the unlicensed company for a full week to ensure its operations were illegal and unlicensed. The company office has been sealed off and the accused were handed to the concerned security wings. (Al-Eqtisadiah)
