Cargo staff embezzle money, flees

Managers at a cargo company, including a woman, have apparently fled Bahrain with thousands of dinars made by selling their customers' packages and cheating their sponsor.

A huge sum of money was illegally pocketed by the managers and staff of Baz Cargo, a logistics company based in East Riffa. They cheated the sponsor of BD20,000 by withdrawing company funds from its bank account and also pocketed the cash paid by the customers to ship goods, which were never shipped.

According to a source, some of the packages were even opened and its contents sold. “I have personally seen the packages kept open. I did not know then why they were opened, but later found out that they were opened to sell the things in it. They sold valuable items found in the boxes. So, they made money on two fronts – the fee they charged from customers to ship the goods and the money they got by selling the items in the packages,” the source said.

Disgruntled customers lined up on the office premises of Baz Cargo Sunday morning after they learnt about the situation. Many said they had sent packages carrying items valued over BD500, but now they do not know where the packages were. Many had been waiting since June for their packages to reach the destination. 

“I sent my package in June, but every time I came here to check on the shipment progress, they gave me excuses and spoke to me very rudely at times, “ a customer said.

Many visited the Baz Cargo office, expecting to speak to the managers, only to find that they had already fled the country.

“I did not know this, I never expected this, I just thought they had lousy service as they were taking so long to deliver the packages but I never thought that they would steal from the packages,” another customer, who was present at Baz Cargo yesterday said.

Speaking to DT News, Jalal, the sponsor of the business, said an Indian lady and her associates had been running the business since many years.

“She worked in the company for over 10 years. I have never seen her commit a crime before this. I have no idea why she abandoned the business now and committed such crimes,” he said.

“They are in India now. They took advantage of the fact that they had their passports with them and they left,” said,

Jalal was still in a state of shock when he spoke to DT News.

“They withdrew a lot of money from the business. I don’t know the exact amount, but it is at least BD20,000,” he said.

“There are some packages that still remain in our office. I am ready to give them back to whom it belongs, but I don’t have any money to distribute,” he explained.

“There is nothing much that we can do here in Bahrain. They are in India, so they have to be caught in India. Some of the customers sought their passport details so that they can alert the Indian authorities. I am currently looking to seek help from Indian authorities well,” he added.