AN expatriate who was caught hiding drugs under bricks at a site in East Riffa was offered BD2 for the job, a court heard.
The Pakistani man denied any knowledge of the drugs and said he was looking for work when an unknown man asked him to place the drugs at various locations.
The 28-year-old is on trial at the High Criminal Court, which has accused him of selling and using methamphetamine – locally known as Shabu.
The defendant denied the charges to both the Public Prosecution and in court on May 24.
“I was looking for work in East Riffa when I was approached by a Pakistani man. I didn’t know him but he offered me BD2 for two hours of work and so I agreed,” he told the Public Prosecution in his statement.
“All I had to do was drop off little packages in various locations in the area and so we walked for around 3km to find the places.
“I was kneeling to hide a package under a brick when the police suddenly swooped in and arrested me, but the other Pakistani man managed to escape.
“They searched me and found drugs in my pockets that didn’t belong to me.
“I don’t use or deal drugs and I don’t even have a prior record. I don’t even know this man and had no idea these packets contained narcotics.”
According to court documents, a total of 44.69gm shabu were found in the defendant’s pocket.
An investigation was launched into the 28-year-old following information gathered from confidential informants prior to the arrest.
“As Anti-Narcotics officers, we receive a lot of tips about drug dealers, users and smugglers,” a 36-year-old Bahraini Anti-Narcotics officer told the Public Prosecution in his statement.
“We received information from secret sources that the defendant was distributing drugs in East Riffa with an unknown accomplice, whom we still haven’t identified.
“They were both selling drugs to other Pakistanis.
“There was no need to organise a sting operation because the defendant was caught red-handed hiding the narcotics.
“He is trying to escape punishment and his story doesn’t make sense as the facts don’t add up.”
According to the 36-year-old, several secret sources provided identical information about the defendant.
The case was yesterday adjourned until July 18 for the verdict.
&uuid=(email))