A DETECTIVE described how an alleged international organised criminal gang helped launder nearly BD60,000 in the country, a court heard.
The Bahraini officer was giving evidence in the trial of an Egyptian, 29, Jordanian, 33 and Lebanese, 35, accused of money laundering, fraud and forgery at the High Criminal Court.
Only the Egyptian and Lebanese defendants are in custody. The Jordanian, who is at large, is standing trial in absentia.
The prosecution witness said that the culprits in custody helped in buying and selling mobile phones using funds from illegal sources.
“I carried out investigations in connection to a criminal gang,” he told leading judges. “They knew that the money was obtained from stolen credit cards and they helped the Jordanian mastermind.
Adjourned
“They bought the electronics items and sold them in the country before sending funds to their co-defendant who is abroad.”
The trial has been adjourned until Thursday for lawyers to submit their final arguments.
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.
The Egyptian defendant, manager of an electronics store, previously said that he bought the electronics products from his Lebanese co-defendant without knowing they had been obtained from illegitimate sources.
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