A DETECTIVE has told a court how his investigations led to the arrest of suspects involved in the selling of drugs being smuggled out of the kingdom’s main hospital.
The 34-year-old Bahraini was giving evidence in the trial of three Bahrainis at the High Criminal Court accused of smuggling prescription pills and selling them illegally in 2018 and 2019.
Lyrica is a prescription drug in Bahrain, which is used to treat epilepsy, neuropathic pain and generalised anxiety disorder.
Investigations led to the arrest of the three individuals – two of whom are employees at Salmaniya Medical Complex.
A 39-year-old woman, who worked as head of cleaning services at SMC, is said to have taken the prescription pills with the help of a 64-year-old pharmacist at the hospital.
She is accused of selling them to the third defendant – a 43-year-old security guard.
Authorities initially found 60,000 pills missing from the SMC store earlier this year, the court heard. Later that number increased to 120,000.
The defendants are standing trial in connection with 694 tablets.
The detective described how his investigations along with ‘secret sources’ led to the arrest of the defendants.
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“I saw a video on social media and carried out investigations about people working at SMC selling Lyrica,” he told a leading judge.
“I then received information from secret sources and carried out intensive investigations which led me to the defendants.
“She (female defendant) sold the drugs to her co-defendant (a 43-year-old security guard).
“She wanted to make quick money and used the help of an official at the pharmacy, her other co-defendant (a 64-year-old pharmacist at the hospital.)
“A committee was set up and found out that prescription pills were missing.”
All three have denied the charges although the court heard that the female defendant initially admitted to illegally selling pills to the security guard with the help of her SMC colleague.
Lawyer Fatima Al Hawaj representing the female defendant claimed her client would not have risked going to jail for just BD19.
“The lyrica pills my client (a 39-year-old woman) is said to have sold was only worth BD19,” she told the court. “My client is not crazy. She will lose her job and freedom for just BD19.”
The trial has been adjourned until Tuesday for defence witnesses to take the stand.
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