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Two crooked customs officers are on trial for accepting a BD5,000 bribe from an Indian drug-trafficking ring, in return for allowing narcotics to enter the country.
Earlier this year, the two Bahraini policemen were convicted of unlawfully searching a passenger and robbing him of BD350 before his flight, and were sentenced to five years in prison each.
They are now standing trial alongside 11 Indian defendants, all accused of trading in marijuana and being part of a criminal network headquartered in their home country.
A 36-year-old Indian barber, referred to by detectives as the ‘mastermind’ behind the operation, had allegedly approached one of the now-convicted customs officers, offering him cash and asking him to turn a blind eye as drugs were brought through the border.
A former Bahrain resident, the leader of the operation has since left the country, and is allegedly co-ordinating an extended network of drug smugglers, promoters and dealers from overseas.
He had recruited and assembled the other 12 co-defendants, according to court documents, seven of whom are standing trial on charges of selling drugs.
The 36-year-old’s right-hand man, another Indian aged 36, had reportedly assisted him to search for smugglers, vet them for the job and correspond with them. Both are standing trial in absentia.
Five other Indian defendants are on trial for trading in marijuana, while four more are simply standing trial for using drugs.
The Bahraini men, aged 25 and 34, were charged with accepting a monetary amount, in order not to carry out their job duties: purposefully neglecting to apprehend the defendants as they passed through customs.
They were also charged with participating with four Indian defendants to bring marijuana into the country by making it easier to smuggle and facilitating its passage through a port of entry.
The third defendant – the mastermind – was accused of bribing the officers, along with the sixth defendant, a 26-year-old who had allegedly handed the money to them.
The sixth defendant was also charged with using force and violence to resist arrest by a policeman, punching him in the chest before fleeing.
Eight defendants were accused of possessing narcotics, including marijuana and methamphetamine, for personal use.
“The Indian duo (defendants 3 and 4) registered a company in India, through which they export narcotics to Bahrain for dissemination,” a policeman, who worked on the case, testified.
“The investigation into the two men led to the discovery of other accomplices, namely two airport Customs Affairs officers who facilitated the smuggling for money (defendants 1 and 2).”
The officer went on to state that the Indian duo had started the gang, staffed it, supplied the drugs to Bahrain, then moved the profits back to India in the form of cryptocurrency.
He added the ringleader approached the 25-year-old Bahraini customs officer, convincing him to get on his payroll. He went on to recruit his 34-year-old co-worker – who is already his partner in crime – so they could cover both shifts at the airport.
Security camera footage had shown them interact with the third and sixth defendants, as they arrived in Bahrain, searching their luggage and giving them the green light to exit customs.
They both admitted to receiving bribes and splitting them, then attempting to launder the money by converting it into Saudi riyals then back to Bahraini dinars. According to a detective, the duo’s finances did not match their monthly salaries.
Bank records show that the younger defendant had utilised BD12,000 in cash to partially pay for a new Toyota Landcruiser, and his account witnessed BD5,200 in direct deposits, while BD7,700 was moved between his own accounts.
All of the mastermind’s co-defendants had testified against him. A search of their mobile phones yielded many conversations with his personal phone number, in which photos of drugs were sent back and forth.
The GDN reported in January that the criminals were found guilty of stealing 3,500 Saudi riyals (BD350) in cash from a passenger, after trapping him in a bathroom stall and conducting an ‘aggressive’ search.
They were convicted of abusing their authority as public servants to commit theft while on duty and keeping the victim captive against his will, and not following customs affairs protocols because as they had searched him outside of dedicated screening locations and without informing their superior.
Judges set October 27 as the date a verdict will be issued in the case.
zainab@gdnmedia.bh
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