Court slaps BD26,000 fine, seize gold bars; Suspects lured victims with offers of free tickets

TDT | Manama

Email: mail@newsofbahrain.com

A jewellery shop owner and his accomplices have been handed a massive BD26,000 fine for masterminding a bold gold smuggling operation that exploited unsuspecting travellers as couriers.

The criminals were caught after an extensive investigation by the Financial Intelligence National Centre (FINC) uncovered the shocking cross-border smuggling ring.

The court handed the shop owner a hefty BD10,000 fine, while his two main accomplices were jointly fined BD15,000. A fourth individual, involved in the scam, was fined BD1,000. In addition to the fines, police seized gold bars and the shop’s account ledger, revealing serious offences including false financial disclosures, failure to report suspected money laundering, and running an unlicensed business.

The sophisticated operation preyed on innocent people through deceptive social media ads promising free airline tickets to anyone willing to volunteer for travel. Once the victims signed up, they were handed a seemingly innocent task—carry bags filled with gold bars across borders. Armed with forged invoices listing them as owners of the gold, the travellers were able to breeze through customs undetected, only to deliver the contraband to receivers in another country.

As the investigation unfolded, prosecutors swiftly imposed a travel ban on the suspects, and police began seizing their phones and scrutinizing their bank accounts and assets. A number of victims were interviewed, confirming that the two main defendants had lured them into the scam with promises of free flights in exchange for transporting luggage packed with gold bars.

The plot thickened as investigators revealed that the jewellery shop owner had supplied the forged invoices, allowing the group to pass off fake buyer details to clear customs. Meanwhile, the fourth defendant was found guilty of covering up the true source of the gold.

Under intense interrogation, the suspects admitted to using the same tactics repeatedly, evading detection and smuggling gold across borders under the radar for months.