The Supreme Criminal Appeals Court yesterday upheld the life sentences of two men who ran a BD1 million cannabis-growing operation out of a rental villa in Adliya.
In May, the High Criminal Court sentenced a 51-year-old Arab-American and 48-year-old Bahraini man to 25 years in prison, fined them BD5,000, and judges ruled to deport the former after completing his sentence.
Now, they are standing trial alongside a Filipina co-defendant on charges of laundering nearly BD39,000 which they allegedly made from selling marijuana, and wiring part of the money to overseas beneficiaries.
The Bahraini and Arab-American appeared before the High Criminal Court yesterday, having denied the charges, while the 55-year-old Filipina is being tried in absentia as she has fled the country.
The charges are directly tied to the previous trial, as the two men were earlier convicted of planting and selling cannabis, and isolating the potent part of the plant for commercial purposes.
Meanwhile, appeals judges lowered the sentence of the Arab-American’s brother, a 53-year-old Bahraini man, to 15 years behind bars, but upheld a BD5,000 fine.
In the initial trial, the Arab-American diver took responsibility for setting up the high-tech marijuana farm, caring for the plants from start to finish, and fully equipping the home factory.
The marijuana plants
According to detectives, he was assisted by his 48-year-old accomplice in growing the cannabis, who reportedly hid some of the stock and seeds in his house and sold the rest on his friend’s behalf.
The Public Prosecution has now accused the American of directing both of his co-defendants to launder the revenue generated from selling the narcotics, with the intention of concealing the illicit source of the funds.
“The defendants conducted several financial transactions, all agreeing to hide the nature of the funds and give them legitimacy,” read the charges, specifying that the alleged crimes took place between 2019 and 2024.
The Bahraini man allegedly received BD27,241 in wire transfers from selling the drugs, then transferred the money abroad through remittances, to individuals determined by the American.
He also allegedly exchanged an extra BD6,332 into an unspecified currency, and bought things with it.
Drying the leaves
As for the Filipina, she is accused of transferring BD5,197 to individuals abroad.
The prosecution further claimed that the American had no bank accounts of his own, but possessed several bank cards under the Filipina’s name.
The GDN earlier reported that the 48-year-old accomplice sold the marijuana on the 51-year-old’s behalf, and brought him back between BD500 to BD1,000 monthly, and sent part of the revenue to Russia and Georgia.
On top of the growing charges, the Arab-American was convicted of possessing marijuana for recreational use, and presenting the herb to his two co-defendants for free.
A fourth co-defendant, a 29-year-old Bahraini, was sentenced to 10 years in prison and fined BD5,000 for possessing marijuana with intention to both sell and use it.
A fifth 27-year-old defendant was sentenced to a year in jail and fined BD1,000 for using synthetic cannabinoids and methamphetamine.
The Supreme Criminal Appeals Court yesterday also upheld both of these sentences.
Case files state that the Arab-American admitted to renting the house in Adliya and transforming it into a farm, dividing up the house and dedicating a room for each stage of growing cannabis.
He reportedly fitted the house with thermostats, lighting, ventilation, air conditioning, heating, fertiliser, irrigation systems and water filters.
He perpetuated the plant from one batch of seeds brought over from the US by friends, and eventually produced seeds each worth BD1,000, giving the final product to his co-defendants to promote and sell.
zainab@gdnmedia.bh
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