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A Bangladeshi expatriate is set to spend a lengthy spell behind bars and pay a hefty fine after being found guilty at the High Criminal Court on drugs charges.
The 49-year-old has been sentenced to 15 years in prison and fined BD10,000 by the High Criminal Court for the possession, sale and distribution of marijuana, synthetic cannabinoids and methamphetamine, commonly known as shabu.
His co-defendant, a 25-year-old Indian labourer, has been cleared of charges relating to dealing in marijuana, after helping police in a sting operation.
The court heard that an alert Bahraini customs officer at Bahrain International Airport spotted a suspicious package as he scanned luggage in the early hours of December 8.
He was scanning a suitcase that had just arrived from Bangkok in Thailand, having transitted through Doha in Qatar. He marked it to alert colleagues that further inspection was needed.
When a 25-year-old Indian labourer arrived at the security checkpoint, he took the bag with him and was asked if he wanted to declare or reveal anything inside and he replied ‘no’.
An on-the-spot inspection found 4.25kg of marijuana hidden in eight plastic bags filled with food products. It was placed between clothes inside the suitcase.
During questioning he immediately revealed that he had received the suitcase from a person in Bangkok, and was instructed to hand its contents over to someone in Bahrain.
The customs officer forwarded a report of the incident to the Anti-Narcotics Directorate and a Bahraini officer arrived to further question the suspect.
The labourer reportedly said that he was smuggling the drugs into the country, under the orders of an Indian man, who worked with the Thai contact who had handed him the suitcase. He added that the Indian man had also booked him into a hotel in Manama.
He told the investigating officers that he would fully co-operate with them and, on the same day, he set up a meeting with the Bangadeshi dealer.
Once the man picked up the package, police swooped and arrested him. An inspection of his belongings revealed he was carrying drugs and he also had tools used to prepare the substances for sale.
The court heard that further investigations revealed details of a drug smuggling network that would distribute marijuana, synthetic cannabinoids and shabu into the kingdom.
The Bangladeshi man will be deported from the kingdom upon the completion of his sentence, while the Indian labourer was ordered to leave as soon as possible.
nader@gdnmedia.bh
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