A young expatriate, who resorted to trading in narcotics after he was unable to secure a full-time job after graduating from secondary school, will now pay the price for his poor life choices with a decade behind bars.
The 21-year-old Bangladeshi admitted at the High Criminal Court to paying for his own drugs fixes by distributing hashish and unregulated CBD oil via dead mail drops, for BD2-a-go.
Yesterday, he was sentenced to 10 years in prison and fined BD5,000 for possessing narcotics for trading purposes, and using pregabalin (Lyrica).
He earlier told the Public Prosecution that he moved to Bahrain with his family at the tender age of four, studied at a well-known private school until 10th grade, and fell into a life of drugs-related crime.
Only two months before he was arrested, the defendant, who was unemployed and living with his parents, joined the ranks of an overseas-based drug dealer. “I started using Lyrica three months ago, without a prescription,” the 21-year-old told the court. “I was receiving the capsules via dead mail, from a man named Omran, based in Pakistan.
“Two months ago, our relationship grew stronger, and he offered me the chance to work for him and distribute drugs.”
He explained that his dealer-turned-employer would send him merchandise via dead mail, and he would be tasked to pick it up, portion it out and distribute it to locations that Omran provided. He recounted that he was once sent a location ‘pin’ in Manama and went there to collect an A4 paper that was saturated with CBD oil. He took it home and, as instructed, cut it up into 16 pieces for future distribution.
Authorities had received a tip from a ‘trusted source’ that a certain block in Manama had illicit drugs activity, and patrols were stationed around the area to watch out for unusual goings-on.
A police officer saw the defendant placing items in an empty lot in Manama just after midnight ‘in a way that inspired suspicion’, the court heard.
The patrol followed and arrested him and found him to be carrying the drug-soaked paper and three smaller pieces, plus three Lyrica pills, in his vehicle.
He admitted to selling and using drugs and traces of Lyrica were found in his urine sample.
His lawyer asked judges for mercy in sentencing, although the Public Prosecution was less forgiving, “Let the voice of your just ruling be heard by everyone with a weak soul. Make them shiver,” read a prosecution statement submitted to the court.
On top of the jail time, judges ordered that the defendant be deported after completing his sentence.
zainab@gdnmedia.bh
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