Two men who were sentenced to life behind bars for running a BD1 million cannabis-growing operation out of a rental villa in Adliya have also been found guilty of money laundering.
The High Criminal Court charged the men with laundering nearly BD39,000 which they reportedly made from selling drugs and wiring part of the money to overseas beneficiaries.
Yesterday, the men – one Bahraini and the other Arab-American – were sentenced to an additional five years in prison, bringing their total jail time to 30 years.
They stood trial alongside a Filipina co-defendant, who was also sentenced to five years in prison. That ruling was delivered in absentia as she has fled the country.
The defendants were each fined BD100,000 and the court ordered the confiscation of BD38,770 from the defendants’ property and assets.
The charges against the 51-year-old Arab-American and 48-year-old Bahraini were directly tied to the previous trial, as the two men had been earlier convicted of planting and selling cannabis, and isolating the potent part of the plant for commercial purposes.
In July, the Supreme Criminal Appeals Court upheld the men’s’ life sentences and BD5,000 fine, although a co-appellant in the original criminal trial received a reduced sentence.
Appeals judges earlier lowered the sentence of the Arab-American’s brother, a 53-year-old Bahraini man, from 25 years behind bars to 15 years, but upheld a BD5,000 fine.
In the initial trial, the Arab-American diver took responsibility for setting up the high-tech marijuana farm, caring for the plants from start to finish, and fully equipping the home factory.
According to detectives, he was assisted by his 48-year-old accomplice in growing the plant, who reportedly hid some of the stock and seeds in his home and sold the rest on his friend’s behalf.
In this trial, the Public Prosecution accused the Arab-American of directing both of his co-defendants to launder the revenue generated from selling the narcotics, with the intention of concealing the illicit source of the funds.
“The defendants conducted several financial transactions, all agreeing to hide the nature of the funds and give them legitimacy,” read the charges, specifying that the crimes took place between 2019 and 2024.
The Bahraini received BD27,241 in wire transfers from selling the drugs before transferring the money abroad through remittances to individuals determined by the American.
He also exchanged an extra BD6,332 into an unspecified currency to make purchases.
As for the Filipina, she was accused of transferring BD5,197 to individuals abroad.
The prosecution further claimed that the Arab-American had no bank accounts of his own but possessed several bank cards under the Filipina’s name.
The GDN earlier reported that the 48-year-old accomplice sold the marijuana on the 51-year-old’s behalf, and brought him back between BD500 and BD1,000 monthly, and sent part of the revenue to Russia and Georgia.
On top of the growing charges, the Arab-American was convicted of possessing marijuana for recreational use, and presenting the drug to his two co-defendants for free.
A fourth co-defendant, a 29-year-old Bahraini, was sentenced to 10 years in prison and fined BD5,000 for possessing marijuana with intention to both sell and use it.
A fifth 27-year-old defendant was sentenced to a year in jail and fined BD1,000 for using synthetic cannabinoids and methamphetamine.
The Supreme Criminal Appeals Court also upheld both of these sentences in July.
zainab@gdnmedia.bh
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