DOHA: A criminal court here has sentenced a man to death and fined him QR500,000 for smuggling a huge consignment of drugs into the country and pulling out a gun on a public security official.
An accomplice of the convict who said he was forced by the latter to aid him in the crime at gunpoint was sentenced to life imprisonment and fined QR300,000. The Public Prosecution charged the duo with smuggling and possessing hashish and opium in large quantities for trafficking. They were also accused of possessing weapons and showing armed resistance when the Border and Coastal Security Guards tried to intercept them.
The authorities were tipped off that two people were trying to smuggle 150kg of hashish from an island. A patrol team of the Border and Coastal Security Guards was set up in close collaboration with the Anti-Drug Enforcement Department and it swung into action to nab the culprits. The main convict took his accomplice to bring sacks of drugs that were buried in the seawater near an island. According to the accomplice (the second convict), he agreed to help the main convict because he was told that it was wheat flour that they had to bring.
When they reached the island, the main convict asked his accomplice to load seven sacks full of drugs on a boat. The accomplice told the court that when he realised that it was drug he refused to touch the consignment. “When I refused he (the prime convict) forced me at gunpoint,” said the second convict. When the duo reached the coast around midnight they were shocked to see the public security personnel patrolling the area. The main convict immediately dumped some of the consignment in the sea, and was nabbed. The Peninsula
