Man cleared in drug parcel case

TDT | Manama

Email : editor@newsofbahrain.com

An appeals court has overturned a 15-year prison sentence handed to an Asian man accused of drug trafficking after finding the only link to the case was his name written on a parcel.

The High Criminal Court of Appeal ruled there was no direct evidence linking him to a parcel sent from Europe, which was found to contain a kilogram of marijuana hidden in toy kits.

Judges determined that his name had been used without his knowledge and that no drugs were discovered on him or at his residence.

Two other men, however, were not spared, and their convictions were upheld.

Sentences
Both were sentenced to 15 years in prison, fined BD5,000 each, and ordered to be deported once their sentences are served.

All seized items remained in custody.

The parcel arrived at Bahrain International Airport in the summer last year.

A customs officer working in the postal unit noticed irregularities when it passed through an X-ray scanner.

Herbal substance
What appeared to be toy assembly kits were hiding two transparent bags containing a green herbal substance.

Tests confirmed the substance was marijuana, weighing one kilogram. The parcel was handed over to the anti-narcotics section at the airport.

This led to a covert investigation by a captain in the Anti-Narcotics Directorate who concluded that the three defendants were part of a group importing drugs into Bahrain.