American basketball player jailed in Bahrain for 10 years in drugs case

TDT | Manama                                                                 

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

An American basketball player arrested earlier this year by Bahraini police for transporting, using and distributing marijuana has been sentenced to 10 years in jail by the High Criminal Court.

The court also imposed a fine of BD5,000 on the suspect, who was playing for a local club in Bahrain.

Meanwhile, the top court acquitted a woman involved in the case of all charges, accepting her argument that she did not know the contents of the shipment imported by the player.

The public prosecution had charged both of them with drug trafficking, an offence punishable by long prison terms and hefty fines. Investigators accused the girl of taking advantage of her relationship with employees at the foreign company to facilitate the shipment of marijuana to Bahrain.

However, upon finding the true nature of the content, the company approached the police, reporting that one of their employees had received a package containing marijuana and seeking an investigation. Based on this report, the Central Investigation Department opened an investigation and traced the shipment back to the basketball player and the woman.

However, during interrogation, the police said, both individuals denied their involvement in drug trafficking and shifted blame onto each other. The girl maintained her innocence, stating that she had merely helped the man import some items from the US without knowledge of their contents.

“I accepted and 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,” she said.

On the other hand, the basketball player admitted to consuming marijuana but denied engaging in its distribution.

He claimed that he had brought the drugs for personal use and had paid the woman to assist him, using the employee’s address to reduce shipping costs. “The marijuana was for personal use, and we used the employee’s address to reduce the shipping cost,” he said.