RIYADH: An alleged drug smuggler claims he had no idea that a car he was driving into Bahrain contained 10kg of hashish and almost 1,000 illegal Captagon pills.
The Bahraini, 37, told prosecutors that he had been asked to transport spare parts in his car across King Fahad Causeway from Saudi Arabia.
He said he left his car with a man in Saudi Arabia who was supposed to load it with parts, but grew suspicious when he later collected his vehicle and discovered that no parts were on board.
The garage owner said he thought weapons might have been concealed in his vehicle and claimed he alerted Customs officers to his suspicions when he reached the border crossing on New Year’s Eve.
He told prosecutors that he had been asked to pick up spare parts by a convicted drug dealer, who contacted him from prison.
He said he led police to the two brothers, who he claimed tricked him into transporting the drugs.
The defendant helped officers conduct a police sting operation, during which the brother not in jail was arrested as he received delivery of the drugs.
Both brothers, aged 26 and 33, have now been charged with aiding the garage owner in trafficking drugs into Bahrain.
“A convicted drug dealer set up the plan and used the defendant to smuggle the drugs into the country,” prosecutors claim in court documents.
“The convict called his friend (the garage owner) and told him to smuggle hashish from Saudi Arabia into Bahrain and the latter agreed.
“He then told him to meet his brother to give him the drugs in Sitra.
“However, the defendant was caught red-handed as he attempted to smuggle the drugs into Bahrain and helped police catch the inmate’s brother.”
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