American basketball player, woman face trial in Bahrain for smuggling marijuana

TDT | Manama                                                    

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

A US basketball player and a woman, who are being detained in Bahrain on drug peddling charges, are currently facing trial at the High Criminal Court.

Police took them into custody following an investigation into a shipment of marijuana received by a foreign company here.

The Public Prosecution had charged them with peddling drugs, an offense punishable by long prison terms and hefty fines. Case sheets say the woman influenced employees at the company to ship the drugs to Bahrain with the help of the basketball player.

However, the duo denied any involvement in drug trafficking during questioning, with the basket player also confessing he bought it for himself with the girl's help. The police were able to trace their involvement in the shipment after an investigation into the complaint filed by the company.

However, during questioning, the two accused blamed each other. The woman claimed that the basketball player had requested her to import “something” from the US and that she did not know what the shipment contained. She also stated that she used her friend’s address to ship the drugs.

“I accepted, and I asked my friend, who works for a foreign company, to provide me with his address to ship them there. I didn’t know what the shipment included,” the girl told investigators. The basketball player, on the other hand, admitted to consuming the drugs but denied any involvement in drug trafficking.

He claimed that the marijuana was for personal use and that he paid the woman to bring it to Bahrain. “The marijuana was for personal use, and we used the employee’s address to reduce the shipping cost,” he said. The trial continues to unfold, with the fate of the accused hanging in the balance.

The case bears some similarities to the sentencing of Brittney Griner, a US basketball star, who was jailed for nine years in Russia for drug smuggling. Griner, who plays for the Phoenix Mercury during the WNBA’s offseason, was arrested at a Moscow airport for carrying cannabis oil in her luggage.