A man who attempted to smuggle drugs and narcotic pills into the kingdom through Bahrain International Airport, by hiding them in a box of a popular brand of cereal, will learn his fate later this month.
The expatriate, who has only been identified as an Arab national, is standing trial at the High Criminal Court, where he earlier admitted to bringing in the narcotics for his personal use.
The accused, who is in his thirties, has been charged with smuggling hashish and cocaine, as well as psychotropic substances including pregabalin, alprazolam, diazepam and amphetamine, with an intent to sell them in the country.
He is also being charged with possessing the substances for personal use.
An official from the Anti-Narcotics Directorate said they received a report from the airport’s Customs Directorate about an expatriate held on suspicion of smuggling drugs.
Authorities searched his luggage, where they found dark substances, powder and a large number of tablets hidden inside. Some of them were sewn inside clothes in the luggage, while others were put in food boxes, especially that of a popular brand of cereal, which was sealed to make it appear as new.
It was later proven that the substances were all illegal narcotics.
Officials found 53 pieces of a dark substance, wrapped in a nylon bag, 1,975 Captagon tablets inside the cereal box, 374 pills of different colours and sizes in a second cereal box and cardboard boxes containing 132 lyrica pills, three suspicious unidentified pills, 597 alprazolam and two diazepam tablets, and an electronic scale.
His backpack was also inspected by officials who found 101 grams of cocaine inside it. When confronted, he claimed to know nothing about them.
He was later referred to the Anti-Narcotics Directorate, where he admitted to bringing them in for personal use.
His urine sample was also found to contain cocaine and pregabalin, diazepam and alprazolam. Further investigations revealed that he also attempted to sell them for financial gain.
According to court documents, he even attempted to use his own sister as a cover for the smuggling operation.
Reports suggest that the sister, a young lady in her 20s, was almost caught up in the ordeal and had no idea of her brother’s intentions.
She was neither arrested nor charged with either trafficking or drug use.
The directorate inspected the defendant’s place of residence following a warrant from the Public Prosecution, and found 34.5 grams of hashish, a rectangular metal piece, two scissors, bags of different sizes, an electronic scale, an envelope to pack one kg of hashish, a spoon, and a plastic box containing a Zenex pill and wrapping paper.
The items were found under the accused’s bed, and they all had traces of hashish and other illegal substances on them.
The defendant will learn his fate on November 25 when a verdict is expected to be issued.
nader@gdnmedia.bh
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