Woman in fifties, four others on trial in Bahrain court in cocaine smuggling case

TDT | Manama

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

A woman in her fifties and four others are facing trial at the Fourth High Criminal Court for smuggling drugs into Bahrain by hiding inside imported kitchen utensils.

The Public Prosecution also charged the suspects with storing pornographic content on their mobile phones.

Court files say the shipment containing drugs arrived in Bahrain from a South American country without elaborating.

The court said it is postponing the case until June 7 for the defence of the accused to file a response.

Standing with the woman in the dock are four others - two women and two men.

One of the women is an Arab national.

Incidents leading to her arrest started with a customs official growing suspicious over a shipment of cooking utensils during an x-ray examination.

The hunch also proved right when officers managed to identify drugs stuffed inside plates.

Experts later confirmed the substance as cocaine.

Based on this, the anti-drug department at the Ministry of Interior assigned an undercover agent to investigate the case and bring the suspects into custody.

The agent posing as a delivery man for the shipment called the suspect.

Narcotics Control Department had earlier found that the suspect was using another name and address to mislead them.

The agent, acting in a way that does not arouse suspicion, called the suspect for the delivery location.

The suspect then directed the shipment to her actual location, resulting in her arrest.

Police also searched her house and retrieved sensitive scales and other tools for handling drugs.

Investigators also found that a second suspect was assisting her in the deal.

As directed by the investigators, the woman called the second suspect and asked him to deliver BD400 worth of drugs, and in return, he asked for 100 grams of shabu.

The deal was agreed.

The suspect said he would deliver the drugs to her home. Second suspect Unsuspecting the trap set, the second suspect arrived at her home, only to find himself surrounded by agents.

The second suspect confessed to investigators that he received drugs from the third suspect, who is an Arab national.

Based on the information, police set a trap in coordination with the Narcotics Control Department and offered to buy half a kilogram of hashish worth BD1,300.

Third, fourth suspect The third suspect agreed to this and meet the buyers at the first suspect’s residence.

He also came with the fourth suspect to complete the deal after verifying a photograph of the money.

Police swooped down on the suspects as they arrived and took them into custody.

Officers also retrieved narcotics and undisclosed amounts of money from them. They also confessed that they received the substance from a fifth suspect.

Fifth suspect Police then asked the fourth suspect to order a kilogram of cannabis worth BD3,000 from the fifth suspect, to which he agreed.

The fifth suspect also fell into police custody upon completing the deal.

The public Prosecution said the five suspects sold narcotic substances, cocaine, methamphetamine and amphetamines