THE six‑month‑old son of an expatriate couple is currently being cared for at their country’s embassy after his parents were arrested on suspicion of importing narcotics, the court heard.
Two Filipinos, a 40-year-old mother and a 44-year-old father, are on trial at the High Criminal Court for allegedly ordering two packages of hashish and unregulated CBD oil via air mail.
During yesterday’s hearing, the mother pleaded with the judges to grant her bail since her infant had no one else to take care of him. The six‑month‑old child has since been taken in by the Filipino Embassy pending the outcome of the case.
The married couple allegedly imported 1.1kg of synthetic cannabinoids and 900gm of hashish, with the drugs allegedly concealed inside a massaging device in packages sent from the UK and Canada.
Although both defendants initially confessed during Public Prosecution questioning, they later denied the charges when asked in court to enter their pleas.
The husband, who works as a salesman, was also charged with possessing methamphetamine – a charge he admitted.
“I didn’t know anything about the mail, and my husband would order items and address them to my name,” said the defendant who works at a ladies’ salon.
According to the Public Prosecution, two ‘suspicious’ packages were flagged by Customs Affairs agents who were scanning incoming mail – one in late May and the other in late August last year. An ‘unusually high density of items’ – a telltale sign of possible drugs – was detected in both boxes, both of which were addressed to the female defendant.
A Customs Affairs officer earlier testified that a police dog from the K9 unit was summoned to check whether the package held narcotics, and the hound identified the defendant’s parcel.
The UK-originated package was opened and a 1,138gm plastic container ‘of an oil-like liquid’ was found within.
In the other package from Canada, policemen found a herbal substance wrapped in a black cover, hidden inside a personal massager.
As soon as the Filipina arrived at the post office to collect her goods and signed the receipt slips, she was immediately arrested and taken to the Interior Ministry’s Anti-Narcotics Directorate. There, she was questioned, and stated that her husband often receives mail and uses her name as the addressee. She recalled that this had occurred twice before, insisting that she had no knowledge of the contents of the packages.
The defendants stated that a Pakistani man known as ‘Naseeb’ sends the packages and instructs the Filipino man on whom to deliver them to and when.
The 44-year-old father reportedly takes a cut of the drugs and then hands them over to other individuals, whose jobs are to promote and sell them to customers. Traces of methamphetamine were detected in his urine sample.
Meanwhile, a text conversation with ‘Naseeb’ was reportedly found on the 40-year-old mother’s phone.
The hearing was adjourned to February 1 for defence responses and requests.
zainab@gdnmedia.bh
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