The Criminal Court of Maldives on Wednesday sentenced a South African man to twelve years and six months in jail and fined him for MVR 100,000 for smuggling drugs by ingesting.
The man had traveled from Qatar to the Maldives on June 17, and had admitted to concealing drugs inside his body at the airport to customs staff after being questioned. In the presence of Customs staff, the man had excreted on two occasions, with 17 bullets containing 185.8 grams of cocaine being retrieved from his stool the first time, and 3 bullets containing 31.7 grams of cocaine were retrieved the second time.
After being handed over to the Police by the customs staff, a total of 83 bullets containing 896.087 grams of cocaine were retrieved from his stool.
The man was charged with smuggling drugs to the Maldives. The street value of the drugs totaled up to MVR 1 million.
The man had confessed to the charges. and later took a plea deal during the preliminary hearing of his trial. Presiding Judge Ismail Shafeeu had concluded at the next hearing to sentence him to 12 years and six months in prison, and impose a fine of MVR 100,000.
