Buying Alcohol Outside Dubai
 

The story of people being followed into Sharjah and then tricked into handing over cash is not new. The readers' comments are quite interesting. My concern is that the red UAE Alcohol Licence only entitle you to consume alcohol at home, so wouldn't the driver still be fined even if he had a licence?
http://gulfnews.com/about-gulf-news/...ctim-1.1171910

Re: Buying Alcohol Outside Dubai
 

The rules in the old licence book (before it became a card) said you were allowed to purchase at the nearest available shop to your home and drive it home. i.e. live in Dxb then buy it in Dxb. Don't know since it became a card where the rules are, but they're bound to be somewhere online and I don't suppose they've changed much.

Re: Buying Alcohol Outside Dubai
 

You cannot bring alcohol from one emirate to another, even if you have a licence, your licence only lets you buy alcohol in dubai

Re: Buying Alcohol Outside Dubai
 

when the penalties are so high why would these people break the law in the first place?! Do hope the gang/s get a comeuppance though. Maybe someone who is about leave anyway could set themselves up and call the police themselves and report blackmail

Re: Buying Alcohol Outside Dubai
 

abi31 if you legally buy in Dubai the choice is limited, prices high and they add an extra 30% tax. Go to some of these other places and the choice is enormous and the prices more reasonable with no government mark up. I myself went to one this morning (my alcohol licence ran out end of last month) and drove back without incident. I do wonder about these tales because I've never met anyone who has fallen for it, just lots of stories. It would be very easy to spot someone tailing you and just park up until they pass.

Re: Buying Alcohol Outside Dubai
 

If the victim was a Dubai expatriate, surely it would have been safer to use the main trunk roads rather than risk passing through Sharjah city centre. Alternatively, drive the extra mile and do your shopping at one of the tax free outlets in RAK.

Re: Buying Alcohol Outside Dubai
 

Oh mental one I totally agree, Sharjah is not a nice place to drive through. If you're going to Barracuda it's an easy drive up the old Emirates Road and for variety I come back on the new Emirates Road. 139 Kph all the way on cruise control watching the locals get flashed as they zoom by, or suddenly apply the brakes when they spot the cameras :)

Re: Buying Alcohol Outside Dubai
 

Exactly - I always use the new Emirates Road (the 611) - conveniently it takes you to the exact junction on the 311 for Barracuda and at the weekend it is empty.

I only every keep a close eye on other cars on the stretch from Barracuda to the 611

Re: Buying Alcohol Outside Dubai
 

And the other eye on the loose camels and donkeys/mules on that stretch!

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Well yes, it was also on this road I saw an accident where I'm pretty sure someone died..

Since then they have installed the central crash barriers...

http://britishexpats.com/forum/showt...+die+barracuda

Re: Buying Alcohol Outside Dubai
 

2 of my colleagues were victims of these bandits - an Indian lad who'd been in Ajman and coughed 4000AED when they bumped him back in Sharjah where he lived

the other was a 15 stone geordie who they tried at one of the roundabouts on that road back from barracuda across to Emirates Road - he jumped out and they mentioned police and oh no you have alcohol - he pretended to call the police himself, called them some nasty names and took photos of their car, they jumped in it and scarpered

Re: Buying Alcohol Outside Dubai
 

Though we know the Primani suit tale is true ;)

Re: Buying Alcohol Outside Dubai
 

Sniffle, sob, boo hoo hoo! Mummy the nasty man is reminding me of that time again!

Re: Buying Alcohol Outside Dubai
 

How much do you lot drink at home? I can't see a trip to Barracuda ever being worth my time even it was being given away for free.

Re: Buying Alcohol Outside Dubai
 

3 bottles of cider and a couple of glasses of wine. 2 bottles of bacardi breezer for the wife. Does not sound like much but 3 cases of breezer a month is QR720 QR800 for the cider and 500 for 4 boxes of wine. Adds up, and that is 1/4 price of having the same in a bar after work.

Re: Buying Alcohol Outside Dubai
 

An hour there and same back. I generally spend 1500 dits. 3 cases of beer, 10 bottles of fizzy, 15ish bottles of red, 10 bottles of white, some kinds of schnappes and the occasional bottle of spirits as I don't drink them. Lasts a couple of months as I mainly use home consumption for bar b's, parties and poker nights.

Re: Buying Alcohol Outside Dubai
 

I am the only drinker in our household and then only red wine. A case of 12 Jacobs Creek costs Dhs348 in RAK compared with over Dhs500 inc. tax at the local MMI, so simply buying two cases makes the trip more than worthwhile, especially as I only buy booze when already in RAK on business.:)

Re: Buying Alcohol Outside Dubai
 

I go every couple of months, I save 276dhs on every case of bubbly that I buy. It would be 58dhs a bottle at MMI or 50dhs from Centurius and 35dhs from Barracuda.
I bought, 5 cases of various fizz, 3cases of various wines and some other stuff.....Baileys, port etc
I go on Friday morning, I leave at 7am, there for 8 as they open and back home by 10. I save over 2000dhs for the cost of half a tank of petrol :D

Re: Buying Alcohol Outside Dubai
 

Now that the 611 is open fully it's even quicker, just go right to the very end (it joins the E311), straight ahead at all the roundabouts (industrial area and palace on left), turn right when you can't go straight ahead (the E11 I think), and you're there. Went yesterday, 25 minutes back to Silicon.

Re: Buying Alcohol Outside Dubai
 

this has been happening all the many years i have lived in uae, its definately not new.

Re: Buying Alcohol Outside Dubai
 

yes you can only buy where your licence is issued, if you have an auh then you have to do in auh not in dxb, it doesnt allow you to consume/buy etc in another emirate, and so going up north has always been illegal.

Re: Buying Alcohol Outside Dubai
 

Do you always blindly obey every rule that you have to live within?

I could add that your blind obedience reminds me of a certain central European outlook a handful of decades age....

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yep... i am a goodie two shoes.....:p but best to know the rules so you are pre-warned.

Re: Buying Alcohol Outside Dubai
 

This story has been going around since Adam was a lad.

I have never, ever heard from someone it actually happened to.

Another urban legend.

Re: Buying Alcohol Outside Dubai
 

What an ego you must have. It's never happened to you or your mates so it cannot be true. Oh dear.:thumbdown:

Re: Buying Alcohol Outside Dubai
 

I get it delivered, and it is still cheaper than MMI/A&E! Get someone else to take the risk!

Re: Buying Alcohol Outside Dubai
 

Balls, you misanthropic twunt!

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It's like the e-mail that was going around (and probably still is) about the exact speed limits in Jumeriah, if you went just 1kmh over the speed limit you would be fined.

Again, total crap.

However, if you want to believe this shit, then be my guest.

Are you and redShark the same person?

Re: Buying Alcohol Outside Dubai
 

Agreed, I use the 611 a few times per week on the way to a site in RAK. Be careful tho, I have several times seen the po po's parked up at the roundabout and stopping random (?) cars. Dunno if it booze related tho.

Re: Buying Alcohol Outside Dubai
 

My good mate got stung. He had spent 18K on booze for his wedding and his Patrol was full. Same stiry, old ratty car, bump, threat. Cost him 4k.

Re: Buying Alcohol Outside Dubai
 

A PPK can change the story....( Patrol Kruse Kontrol at 115 km/h - a bullbarred Patrol can take a lot of damage before it shows...)

Re: Buying Alcohol Outside Dubai
 

DXB cops stop people on the 611 near Jebel Ali airport, where the underpasses are, and check driving licence and registration. If you don't have them on you they give you the opportunity to have someone get them to you. If you can't then you're fined.

Re: Buying Alcohol Outside Dubai
 

Or be generous...

Re: Buying Alcohol Outside Dubai
 

This was at the other end, I.e the northern end of the 611 where it bends and crosses under the 311. Just at the roundabout there.

Re: Buying Alcohol Outside Dubai
 

Who stopped your "friends"?

Re: Buying Alcohol Outside Dubai
 

My 'friend'....... was bumped by some local youths in a ratty arse Lexus if I remember rightly. Was 3 odd years ago tho.

Dunno why there are all these thoughts that what I have said is BS. Why would I make it up? I have better things to do than that.

Either way, believe me / don't believe me, see if I care.

Re: Buying Alcohol Outside Dubai
 

We'd been told about Barracuda and the 'bandits' even before we moved to Dubai in mid 2005. Anyway, we duly applied for and got our Dubai Liquor Licence and used the outlets in Dubai until MMI opened Al Hamra Wine Cellar whenever it was (2007?). From then on we always used that outlet - sailed past Barracuda both ways - but always kept our Dubai Liquor Licence current.

Bearing in mind that there's a police/ambulance station based next to the (now non-functional) petrol station opposite the entrance to Barracuda we found it mildly amusing when a Dubai registered 4x4 with a trailer piled high with chiller boxes (and a 'fairly' discreet sign saying it's party time) pulled out in front of us from Barracuda and headed back towards Dubai. We followed them along the coast road, left at the R/A where there's that odd sculpture and onto the Old Emirates Road (E311) where they floored it and within five minutes were out of sight.

As an aside, and for anybody thinking of relocating to Oman, things work slightly differently here with regard to Liquor Licences. For those working I believe that you still require an NOC from your employer and letter stating your salary and your allowance is based on that - so not much difference to Dubai. However Licences are issued on a two-year basis and are still in the form of a 'passport'. The cost of a licence is higher than in Dubai but, as far as we can work out, this is because you pay the cost of the licence and 'tax' up front. The cost of alcohol in say A&E is comparable to the costs in RAK. Also note that all liquor outlets are closed during Ramadan.

As another aside, for anybody thinking of retiring to Oman (specifically Muscat where expats can buy freehold properties) once you have your residency you can write your own NOC for a liquor licence. We did this last summer when we moved here. Mr hnd wrote his own NOC, we got it translated into Arabic, took it to the Liquor Licence Dept in Ruwi with copies of passport, residency, passport photos and the licence was issued in about five minutes. The issuing officer then asked if Mrs hnd would like her own licence for the same amount. On the basis that we can spend OR200/month on Mr hnd's licence we graciously declined.

Another interesting point (if you're interested and have read thus far) is that the licence is far more comprehensive and realistic than those issued in the UAE (or certainly Dubai which is where we had ours). It covers family and bona fide guests/visitors to drink alcohol on your premises. However it only allows us to buy and transport alcohol within the Municipality of Muscat.

Happy days to you all ...