Expanding on the solid connection between the UK and the UAE, Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, visited Jebel Ali Customs Center, as a part of his first authority visit to the UAE.

The second-in-line to the British throne landed in Dubai Customs’ Jebel Ali Center on Thursday 10 February 2022.
The UK royal found out about Dubai Customs job in battling ill-conceived exchange merchandise that disregard the arrangements of the Treaty on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).

Dubai Customs works together with the DP World to cut short such activities. The in-house built Smart Risk Engine intercepts suspicious shipments following a sophisticated 128-point system. A thorough scanning by the advanced container scanning system at Jebel Ali Customs Center follows this, which helps in aborting illegal wildlife trade.

The illegal wildlife trade is among the five most lucrative global crimes and is often run by highly organized criminal networks. Prince William founded United for Wildlife with The Royal Foundation to raise awareness of this serious organized crime and bring motivated leaders from business, law enforcement and charities together to bring about a more significant response than
conservations alone.

The DP World owns the Jebel Ali Port, the Principal Partner of United for Wildlife. They have been instrumental in recognizing this vision and raising awareness of action on this issue. The headquarter of the DP World is in Dubai and handles around 10% of global container traffic across its ports and terminals worldwide.
During his visit to Jebel Ali, They gave Prince William a port tour to see the scale of operations at the Middle East’s largest port. They showed his Royal Highness a live demonstration of cargo being unloaded from ships, the journey through customs, learning about how cutting-edge new technology can be deployed to identify trafficked wildlife items and support enforcement investigations.

Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem, Group Chairman and CEO, DP World said “As a leading global logistics business, we recognize the important need to address the rising concerns posed by the
illegal wildlife trade, which not only impacts biodiversity but has ramifications for our planet and local communities. We are taking extensive measures to tackle the issues, including collaborating with United for Wildlife and technology companies to develop processes to improve the detection of illegal wildlife cargo.

Jebel Ali Customs Center completed 2.814 million declarations in 2021. Dubai Customs has recently seized 64 falcons that were being brought into the country. They have been found hidden in the back of a lorry as smugglers attempted to transport them across
the Hatta border.

In recent years, Dubai Customs made 197 CITES-listed seizures, and to enhance cooperation in this regard, it signed an agreement with the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) towards more cooperation in preventing illegal wildlife trade.

H.E. Sultan bin Sulayem, DP World Group Chairman & CEO and Chairman of Ports, Customs and Free Zone Corporation had earlier said “Fruitful cooperation between DP World and Dubai Customs in fighting illegal wildlife trade and trafficking of CITES-listed items has had tangible results, thanks to the advanced interception and inspection systems at Jebel Ali Customs Center and their highly professional teams”.

Dubai Customs’ experience in this regard has become an example to follow worldwide following the vision of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President, Prime
Minister and Ruler of Dubai.”

Following on the report, H.E. Ahmed Mahboob Musabih, Director General of Dubai Customs, CEO of Ports, Customs and Free Zone Corporation highly applauded Prince William’s efforts in protecting the environment. These efforts were culminated in launching the Earthshot Prize, an ambitious environmental program aimed at finding new ideas and technologies around the world to tackle the climate crisis and Earth’s most pressing challenges.

He later concluded by saying “Dubai Customs is committed to its role in implementing the CITES treaty provision, which the UAE joined in 1990. Our Smart Risk Engine is one of the most sophisticated systems in analyzing risks following well-studied plans. There are six inspection systems in place at Jebel Ali Customs Center, with a capacity of checking and inspecting 900 containers/hour.”