A female drug dealer has been sentenced to 15 years in prison after being found guilty of importing 1.2kg of marijuana via air mail from Thailand with an intention to promote and sell it.
The 49-year-old Filipina was also fined BD5,000 by the High Criminal Court, which issued an order to confiscate the contraband and deport her after completing the sentence.
The court heard that the expat saleswoman was arrested when she came to pick up the package from the shipping company.
Customs officers had flagged the carton as suspicious during regular scanning of incoming mail.
Twelve bags of tightly-sealed ‘foodstuffs’ were found in the carton, and upon inspection, they appeared to contain a herbal substance, later confirmed to be marijuana.
The package was handed over to the Interior Ministry’s Anti-Narcotics Directorate, that gave the parcel to the courier outlet, which sent her a notification that it has arrived. Authorities waited until the defendant came to pick up the consignment to apprehend her.
According to an investigator who worked on the case, the defendant operates as part of an organised network of narcotics dealers.
Her role was to fetch the parcels, then hand it to other members of the network, who go on to divide, pack, distribute, advertise and sell the marijuana, the court heard.
During questioning by Public Prosecution, the woman admitted that she was tasked with picking up packages and then sending them to another individual in the chain. She was reportedly paid BD20 for a pick-up.
The woman said she would agree ahead of time to meet the man who took the package from her.
This alleged accomplice has not been traced, apprehended, charged or tried.
Despite admitting to charges before the prosecution, she went on to deny them in court, claiming that she ‘had no idea that the parcels contained drugs’.
According to court records, this was not the first time that the Filipina carried out such a task. She had accepted multiple packages in the past from another individual involved in smuggling psychedelics.
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