A woman convicted of importing 1.2kg of marijuana via airmail from Thailand, with an intention to promote and sell it, has appealed against her 15-year sentence.
The High Criminal Court earlier fined the 49-year-old Filipina BD5,000 on top of the jail term, and issued an order to confiscate the contraband and deport her after the sentence is served.
The expat saleswoman was arrested when she came to pick up the package from a courier containing 12 bags of tightly-sealed ‘foodstuffs’, later confirmed to be hashish.
“I’m humbly appealing to your good office with regard to my case and the sentence I’m serving now,” read a handwritten letter written by the expatriate, addressed to appeal court judges.
“On May 27, I was sentenced to 15 years in prison. I am deeply broken and miserable, for I am really innocent of the crime for which I have been blamed.
“I was only used by somebody else, and didn’t know it. I’m not really the owner of the parcel, and the parcel is not under my name. I was just asked to receive it on behalf of a friend.
“Please review my case and spare your time to give me a chance to go back to my family, as I am the only breadwinner. Please give me a chance to continue my life with my family.”
She told the Supreme Criminal Appeals Court in her letter that she was only doing her friend a favour by running an errand for them, and was not aware of the contents of the package.
She further claimed that she knew the identity of the true culprit and could help with an arrest.
The GDN earlier reported that customs officers flagged the carton as suspicious during regular scanning of incoming mail. The package was handed over to the Interior Ministry’s Anti-Narcotics Directorate, that gave it to the courier outlet, which sent the appellant a notification that it had arrived.
Authorities waited until the appellant came to pick up the consignment to apprehend her.
According to an investigator who worked on the case, the appellant operates as part of an organised network of narcotics dealers.
Her role was to fetch the parcels, then hand it to other members of the network, who go on to divide, pack, distribute, advertise and sell the marijuana, the court heard. During questioning by Public Prosecution, the woman admitted that she was tasked with picking up packages and then sending them to another individual in the chain. She was reportedly paid BD20 for a pick-up.
The woman said she would agree ahead of time to meet the man who took the package from her. This alleged accomplice has not been traced, apprehended, charged or tried.
Despite admitting to charges before the prosecution, she went on to deny them in court, claiming that she ‘had no idea that the parcels contained drugs’.
According to court records, this was not the first time that the Filipina carried out such a task. She had accepted multiple packages in the past from another individual involved in smuggling drugs.
Judges set July 27 as the date for a verdict in the appeal case.
zainab@gdnmedia.bh
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