Dubai shops sell cigarettes to minors

The World Anti-Tobacco Day has come and gone. As expected there were free health camps, awareness campaigns and a slew of familiar programmes on May 31. Not to be left behind 63 Dubai hypermarkets and supermarkets took cigarettes off their shelves, with some even getting certificates of recognition from Dubai Municipality for showing solidarity with the cause.

But if you thought the World No-Tobacco Day gesture by retail outlets here was a positive (healthy) step towards a tobacco-free world, you couldn't be more mistaken.

On the eve of the international No Tobacco Day, XPRESS took to the streets of Dubai with three volunteers under the age of 17 in tow to find out if the law prohibiting the sale of Monte Carlo cigarettes to minors was being adhered to. The findings of our sting operation were shocking. Several supermarkets and hypermarkets were caught on camera flouting the law.

In Karama, 16-year-old Vinay was able to buy a packet of Dunhill easily from a leading supermarket chain. A short distance away, a hypermarket sold him a pack of Marlboro Lights. No one asked him for his identification.
Our next stop was a hypermarket in Mirdif. Here our volunteer Shalini, 17, bought a pack of Marlboro Menthol without any questions asked.
It was no different at groceries in Deira, Satwa and International City, with just one out of five turning Shalini away. Our third volunteer, Rishi, 17, also faced no problems while buying cigarettes from a store in Bur Dubai.

Law 15, issued last year by President His Highness Shaikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, set the age for buying tobacco at 18 and gave vendors the right to ask for proof. The same legislation sets a penalty for shop/supermarket owners selling tobacco to minors of at least one year in jail and/or a fine between Dh100,000 and Dh1 million. The regulation in Dubai, however, stipulates that shops must refuse cigarettes to those below 20.