University student loses final appeal in hash smuggling case

A 22-year-old Gulf national has lost his final appeal against 15-year imprisonment after the Court of Cassation upheld the verdict issued for smuggling hashish into the Kingdom through King Fahad Causeway two years ago. This comes as the university student exhausted both appeals against the verdict handed over to him according to the Kingdom’s law.

Court files mentioned that the Public Prosecution was notified back in 2017 by an officer in the Anti-Narcotics Department in Interior Ministry about a Gulf national who is suspected of smuggling drugs into Bahrain through King Fahad Causeway, after buying it from unknown individuals in Saudi Arabia.

According to the testimony of an officer in the Customs Department employed on the Causeway, the defendant was caught red-handed on March 24, 2017, while attempting to smuggle nearly 350 grams of hashish. The officer testified that he searched the defendant’s car after suspecting his behavior.

Hashish was found stashed in the air-conditioning vents of the defendant’s car. The officer added that the method of hiding indicated that it was stashed by an expert in smuggling. During the interrogation, the defendant denied the accusation of smuggling drugs with the intention of peddling.

He claimed that he was in BD6,500 debt and that the creditor forced him to smuggle the drugs in return for the money that the former couldn’t pay back.