Doha

A Doha Criminal Court has sentenced a Bangladeshi expatriate to five years in jail after he was convicted of smuggling illicit drugs worth QR835,000, local Arabic daily Arrayah has reported.

The court has also imposed a fine of QR300,000 on him and ordered his deportation upon serving the sentence.

The man was travelling from his home country when Customs officers at the Doha airport detected cannabis and amphetamine, packed in two boxes, in his luggage.

Later, he claimed that the boxes were given to him by one of his compatriots at home, to be delivered to a person from his native country who works in a vehicle workshop in Doha. The man said he did not know what the boxes, which weighed 3.34kg, contained even as a blood test on him revealed traces of amphetamine.

Eventually, the court established his guilt and sentenced him accordingly.