THREE men who are allegedly part of an international organised criminal gang are standing trial in connection to laundering nearly BD60,000, a court heard.
The Egyptian, 29, Jordanian, 33 and Lebanese, 35, are accused of money laundering, fraud and forgery at the High Criminal Court.
The Egyptian and Lebanese defendants, who are in custody, denied the charges yesterday in their first hearing in court, while the Jordanian ‘mastermind’ and former Bahrain resident, who is at large, is standing trial in absentia.
They are all accused of laundering BD58,000 with the help of BDF personnel last year.
The BDF suspects are standing trial separately at a military court.
They are said to have used stolen credit cards to purchase electronics online before selling them in Bahrain. They allegedly fraudulently purchased more than 60 mobile phones, plus iPads, according to court documents.
A detective described how the Jordanian defendant used stolen credit cards from abroad to purchase the electronics with the help of the defendants – who then allegedly sold them in the kingdom.
“In November in 2020 I received information about the Jordanian defendant using stolen credit cards and laundering money,” the 26-year-old Bahraini said in his statement to prosecutors.
“He used to live in Bahrain before he travelled back to Jordan. He then used stolen credit cards to purchase mobile phones and iPads from three electronics stores online.”
The Jordanian asked BDF personnel and his civilian co-defendants to help him in selling the electronics items in Bahrain, the court heard.
“They transferred the money which they received from selling the electronics to him (Jordanian defendant at large),” the detective added. “I then carried out investigations and received information confirming the roles of his co-defendants in aiding and abetting the crimes. They laundered around BD58,000 after selling the electronics items in Bahrain.”
The Egyptian defendant, manager of an electronics store, said that he bought the electronics products from his Lebanese co-defendant without knowing they had been obtained from illegitimate sources.
“I manage an electronics store and the defendant (Lebanese man) sold me items. They were cheaper, BD5 each, compared with the prices of the official agent,” the 29-year-old told prosecutors.
“I bought around 18 phones for more than BD1,000. I was arrested and did not know anything about the alleged crimes.”
The trial has been adjourned until next Wednesday for review.
&uuid=(email))