Custom officials foil attempts to smuggle medicine, silver artifacts

CAIRO – 8 July 2018: Custom officials at Cairo International Airport foiled an attempt to smuggle a large amount of medicine and silver artifacts by eight persons, including airport staff and pharmaceutical company owners, to evade taxes worth about LE 15 million.

An inspection officer revealed that the defendants stated in the customs clearance documents that the medicine and silver artifacts were for personal use.

Recently, customs officials at Cairo International Airport foiled numerous smuggling attempts carried out in cooperation with airport staff.

Bribery and corruption have been rife in Egypt for long decades and were among the main causes for the 2011 uprising that toppled longtime President Hosni Mubarak.

President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi always stressed on applying strict measures within the government institutions to crack down any violation. He hailed the role played by the ACA in different occasions.

The ACA’s efforts were very fruitful in the last years and prosecuted several high-profile cases which led to a noticeable decline in corruption incidents.

In April 2016, the Cairo Criminal Court sent former Agriculture Minister, Salah el-Din Mahmoud Helal, and his office manager to 10 years in prison each on corruption charges.

The prosecution said in a court session that Helal and his office manager had accepted bribes, including a luxury home, membership of an exclusive sports club, clothing from high-end fashion stores, and mobile phones.

In January 2017, former Secretary-General of Egypt's State Council Wael Shalaby committed suicide while in custody after his arrest for alleged corruption.

This incident came days after a procurement manager at the State Council, Gamal al-Laban, was arrested and charged with receiving bribes worth millions of Egyptian pounds.

Egypt ranked 108th out of 176 countries on Transparency International’s 2016 Corruption Perception Index, scoring 34 points, down two points compared to 2015. A score of zero is highly corrupt while 100 is very clean.