An Egyptian Engineer Smuggles $48.000 Through Algiers International Airport

An Egyptian engineer working for an Algerian contracting company was followed up by Algiers Dar Bida court, on Monday, against the background of his accusation of smuggling a significant sum of money in his luggage and seizing more than $48.000 that was hidden among his personal belongings, while he was about to go to his country.

Algiers Dar Bida court accused him based on the incidents in which he is being investigated on charges of violating the customs legislation, the regulation of disbursement and the movement of funds to and from abroad.

The details of the file occurred after the arrest of the accused by the border police services in coordination with customs agents at the level of Algiers International Airport, Houari Boumediene, last March, who discovered during the checkpoint of the scanner device that an amount of money was inside the Egyptian parish bags were he hid a total of 48,200 A dollar, which was not declared at the customs office and the payment of tax dues resulting from it.

The seizure report revealed that the Egyptian engineer did not declare the amount that was in his possession until after the bags arrived on the plane and the matter was discovered, after finding part of the amount in a handbag, estimated at $700 and things became clear, after investigation with him, that the total amount exceeded the legal limit permitted during the procedures for transferring funds to foreign countries.

The accused was arrested immediately and referred to the security investigation to hear his statements, where he denied his knowledge of the laws in force in Algeria and stated in tears as he recounted the details of his suffering in collecting the money to travel to his country, Egypt, and preparing for his sister’s wedding, that his intention was not criminal intent.

According to his defence lawyer, the amount was the result of long years of work and fatigue, and he used to transfer his salary to his family through the bank, but the current crisis forced him to travel urgently and with what remained of his savings.

In response to the accused’s statements before the representative of the public right, he said that the laws are strict because the crime is material and there is no room for emotion, since the legally permissible amount is only $7000, and any transgression exposes its owner to prosecution, opening hypotheses for the exploitation of employees like him by currency smugglers, and seeking to punish him With 6 months imprisonment in force and a fine of the seized amount with its confiscation