A panel of three judges has sentenced to death a Saudi and an Egyptian for attempting to smuggle Captagon tablets into the country on a bus, according to an official judicial source. The court also lashed and fined four other men – two Saudis and two Egyptians – for being accomplices in the affair. In the next few days the court will submit the verdicts to the Appeal Court for final approval. The General Prosecutor has expressed satisfaction at the death penalty for the two traffickers, but has objected to the other verdicts, which he said were not harsh enough. He has demanded the death penalty for the other four men as well because of their criminal records and the seriousness of their crime. According to sources, the gangsters were trapped by an anti-drug team. When the team searched the bus they found more than 500,000 Captagon pills hidden in secret pockets in the tires and passenger seats. The sources said the investigation showed that the role of the four accomplices was insignificant compared to that of the two leaders of the gang who had planned the whole operation. In sentencing the four men, the court had taken these factors into consideration. Two men were each sentenced to three years in prison and the other two accomplices were each given six years including lashes and fines. Meanwhile, the Appeal Court has upheld a guilty verdict passed by the District Court in Jeddah on a seven-member gang – four Pakistanis, a Yemeni national and two Saudis – for peddling hashish. The court convicted two of the gangsters – both Saudis – for their role in peddling the hashish. They were each given 10-year prison sentences and 1,500 lashes. The remaining five were sentenced to five years and 1,000 lashes and will face deportation and barred from entering the Kingdom again.
