Kuwaiti, his Thai friend not guilty Life-term commuted:

KUWAIT CITY, Jan 21: The Court of Cassation rejected the appeal filed by the Public Prosecution and acquitted a Kuwaiti and his Thai friend who were charged with promoting and trafficking in heroin.

Case papers indicate that a policeman in the Jahra Ggovernorate patrols testified that he was on routine duty in the suburb of Saad Al-Abdullah and he saw the two defendants driving against the flow of traffic, and that he stopped them to issue a citation.

At this time both men looked confused and the policeman saw two small bags on the front seat of the car and 9,000 dinars in cash was found on the back seat.

At that time the men admitted the money belonged to them and that it was from the sale of drugs. They also admitted to consuming and possessing drugs.

The Court of Cassation

overturned the verdict issued against an inmate known as “El Chapo” in the Central Prison who was sentenced to life imprisonment. The court instead ruled his innocence of possession of heroin with the intention of trafficking, after his friend confessed that he was the one who instructed him to sell it outside the prison.

According to the case file, the arresting officer testified that the inmate was communicating with his friend (the second defendant) from his cell using a mobile phone. The prison came to know about it after the second defendant was arrested and the latter admitted during interrogation that he was in contact with the inmate in the Central Prison.

Representing the inmate was Lawyer Yousef Dashti who said the search process that led to his client was faulty, given that the arresting officer did not have probable cause to search his client. He stressed that the entire procedure was conducted without permission from the relevant authority, which is in violation of his client’s rights.