Five years jail for money laundering, selling drugs

The First High Criminal Court has sentenced a man to five years in jail and fined him BD5,000 after finding him guilty of money laundering and selling drugs. This was announced in a statement issued by the Public Prosecution yesterday. In the statement, Chief Prosecutor Ahmed Al Qurashi explained that the thirty-year-old was initially arrested while selling hashish and narcotics.

However, further investigation revealed that the man had been laundering money by depositing the income generated by selling drugs in different bank accounts that belonged to his relatives, in addition to purchasing cars in cash and transferring money abroad. When arrested, five bags of methamphetamine (a drug that is locally known as Shabu), 68 grammes of hashish, BD10,000 in cash and other GCC currencies, and deposit slips worth BD7,000 were found in his possession.

The man denied that the money was generated from selling drugs, claiming that it was the outcome of investing in chicken hatcheries; a claim that was later proven by investigators to be false. The probe confirmed that the man had collected over BD22,000 that he generated from selling drugs within three years, and the hatcheries he claimed belonged to his relatives.

Mr Al Qurashi said in the statement: “The Public Prosecution launched its investigations and issued an order to disclose and track the defendant’s money and verify its source. It was proved that his money was obtained from his trade in narcotic substances, and that he had performed several operations on them in the form of cash deposits and transfers abroad, in addition to the purchase of a number of cars that he registered in his name and in the names of others in order to evade accountability and hide the source of those and legalise it.”

The Chief Prosecutor added: “The Public Prosecution listened to the statements of witnesses and the people who carried out these financial transactions in the name of and for the benefit of the accused, and explained the orders given to them by the accused regarding these transactions.

The Prosecution also interrogated the accused, confronted him with the evidences, charged him and referred him to the court that decided to convict and punish him.”