Asians get life sentence for smuggling drugs

Manama : Three Asian nationals involved in a drug smuggling case were handed life sentences. Among the trio is an alleged drug mule who claimed that he committed the crime to provide a financial support to his ‘needy family’. 

The Pakistani, 32, was arrested at Bahrain International Airport on April 9 last year by customs officers, who were already on alert about his arrival. 

He was inspected but nothing illegal was found in his possession or inside his luggage. 

However, under intense questioning, he admitted to hiding capsules in his stomach and led police to his co-accomplices, also Pakistani nationals, who were waiting for him outside the airport.  

All three of them were X-rayed and police discovered that two of them had swallowed a total of 150 capsules. 

The 32-year-old was found to be having 65 capsules weighing 500 grams in his stomach, while his accomplice had 85 capsules. 

The 32-year-old told prosecutors he was promised 85,000 Pakistani rupees (BD315) for smuggling the drugs into the country.

“A man in Pakistan told me that he will give my family 85,000 Pakistani rupees if I smuggle heroin into Bahrain,” he said in his statement. 

“I agreed and swallowed 65 pills two days prior to my flight. I was going to meet two men when I was busted at the airport. I wanted to help my mother because we are very poor,” he added.