A Saudi man, who was sentenced to 15 years in prison and fined BD10,000 for attempting to smuggle five kilos of hashish into Bahrain across the causeway, has had his court appeal rejected after failing to appear before judges.
The 40-year-old had reportedly ordered a Bahraini co-conspirator to bring the narcotics to Bahrain and in 2021 was convicted by the High Criminal Court of possessing narcotics with the intention of selling them. As he received the sentence in absentia, the defendant lodged an objection to the court to be given a chance to defend himself ... but then didn’t turn up.
Court documents state that the Saudi instructed a Bahraini security guard to bring narcotics worth more than BD40,000 in street value into the country, stashed away in his car’s bonnet, during a family road trip.
Specialist police dogs got a sniff of the hashish and alerted King Fahad Causeway handlers. He was arrested in front of his wife and son, who were in the vehicle with him, the court heard, unaware of the hidden drugs.
The Saudi’s 21-year-old brother also stood trial but was cleared of all charges.
The Bahraini co-defendant was later acquitted of the smuggling charge after he helped detectives arrive at the identity of the Saudi dealer but was found guilty of using drugs and sentenced to three years in jail.
The GDN earlier reported that the security guard aided police by helping them set up a sting operation to identify those involved. “The security guard said that he met his co-defendants in a bar in Bahrain,” read the court ruling.
“He stated that the Saudi drug dealer later asked him to smuggle drugs into Bahrain for BD3,000. The man said that he agreed because he needed the money, and decided to take his wife and son to draw away suspicion from the vehicle being used to smuggle in the hashish. The incident took place in 2019.
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