‘Pickle jar drug smuggler’ case adjourned to Sept 16

A Bangladeshi man was nabbed while attempting to smuggle narcotic pills in pickle jars; the second to be caught deploying the same smuggling method within a month this year. This was revealed during the trial of the man before the High Criminal Court, which adjourned the case to September 16, 2019, to hear the witnesses. Court files showed that the defendant was suspected by an officer of the Customs Department while the former was entering Bahrain coming from Bangladesh through Bahrain International Airport last June.

The defendant was asked to enter the “red lane” for further inspection of the luggage. But, when the officer was about to wear his gloves to inspect the luggage, the defendant attempted to escape, but he was eventually caught and arrested by the airport police. According to the officer’s testimony, a total of 2,055 prescription pills were found hidden in a plastic jar that was carrying pickles. Further investigation of the Anti-Narcotics Department in Interior Ministry showed that the defendant was a member of a drug smuggling ring and he was smuggling narcotics in return for certain amounts.

During the interrogation, the defendant stated that he worked in a sandwich shop in Bahrain for three years and that he was asked by a friend in Bangladesh, where he spent his vacation, to smuggle the narcotics in return of BD60, after he was promised that it is safe and he will not be harmed. The man was charged by the Public Prosecution on June 2, 2019, with smuggling methamphetamine into Bahrain with the intent to sell it and referred him to the criminal court.

Tribune reported yesterday that another Bangladeshi national was caught at Bahrain International Airport last May while attempting to smuggle narcotics in pickle jars. However, unlike this case, the defendant in the previous case didn’t confess and insisted that he wasn’t aware of the narcotics caught in his luggage.