Timothy Rutherford who worked as a civil contractor with British forces in southern Iraq was arrested last September while crossing into Kuwait

Timothy Rutherford British expat was sentenced to life in jail Sunday by Kuwait's criminal court after he was caught smuggling hashish and alcohol into the oil-rich emirate from neighboring Iraq in the latest case of drug trafficking that suggests a surge in abuse of illicit stimulants in the Arab world at large.Timothy Rutherford who worked as a civil contractor with British forces in southern Iraq was arrested last September while crossing into Kuwait with 49 kilos (108 pounds) of hashish, liquor and cash.
As a trade free zone Dubai is perhaps the busiest drug gateway in the GulfAlthough Sunday's verdict is not final and can be appealed, it is standard in a country where penalties for possession, use, or trafficking illegal drugs in Kuwait are severe, and convicted offenders can expect long jail sentences and heavy fines.In February 2009 three Americans were caught allegedly peddling marijuana in Kuwait City's downtown after using the military postal service to smuggle marijuana into the country.Three major drug raids in Dubai recently – all involving foreigners -- yielded a haul of 651,000 Captagon pills at the airport, and several kilograms of heroin intercepted by police and customs officers.

Sheikh Talal Nasser al-Sabah death sentence hanging over the sheikh for drug trafficking

Sheikh Talal Nasser al-Sabah who is in his fifties, was caught by Kuwaiti police with 10kg (22lb) of cocaine and 165lb of hashish. When sentencing him to death, Judge Humoud al-Mutwatah said that he had “willingly walked the path of evil” and deserved no mercy. Smuggling drugs in the Gulf is a high-risk enterprise, with frequent death sentences for dealers and mules. It is possible Sheikh Talal Nasser al-Sabah believed that being a relative of Kuwait’s rulers would protect him. Now, with a death sentence hanging over the sheikh for drug trafficking, the oil-rich emirate is waiting to see whether the strict rule of law or the kinship ties of the ruling family will prevail. The sheikh, It was the first time that a member of a Gulf royal family had been condemned to death by a court, and is widely seen as a test case for the impartiality of the law in a country where the convict’s relative, the Emir, could pardon his wayward kinsman. The sheikh was the nephew of a previous Emir of Kuwait, Jaber al-Sabah, who died in 2006, and is one of hundreds of members of the huge ruling family. Lawyers at the time hailed the sentence as a sign of the impartiality of the law. Najib al-Wugayyan, a prominent criminal lawyer, called the verdict “a magnificent indication to all that nobody is above the law”.
And isn’t this interesting? A similar case involving a Saudi royal:Strict as the laws are, they are not as harsh as those in Saudi Arabia, where smugglers convicted of trafficking marijuana have been beheaded. Even there, however, a member of the Royal Family, Prince Nayef bin Sultan bin Fawwaz al-Shaalan, has been caught up in drug trafficking. Last year a French court sentenced the Prince in absentia to ten years in jail and a $100 million (£50 million) fine for his part in a plot to smuggle two tonnes of cocaine from Colombia to an airport outside Paris in 1999, using a private aircraft and diplomatic immunity to move the drugs. Since Saudi Arabia has no extradition treaty with France or the US, the Prince was not jailed.
But back to KuwaitThe conviction was not Sheikh al-Sabah’s first run-in with the law. In 1991 he was arrested by Egyptian police and charged with smuggling heroin, although he said at the time that it was all for personal use. Sheikh al-Sabah continues to deny that he is a drug dealer and said that he has left his fate to the Emir. “I am drug-addicted and I am getting cured. I don’t deal,” he told the Kuwaiti newspaper al-Jareeda from his jail cell. “I don’t know whether Kuwaiti society is satisfied with the ruling of the judiciary or not. But it is in the hands of the Emir.”

Arsene K. and Kosom H two Bangladeshi men sentenced to death for smuggling heroin

The Crimi-nal Court Tuesday sentenced two Bangla-deshi men, identified as Arsene K. and Kosom H., to capital punishment for smuggling heroin into the country for trafficking.
Case files indicate the arresting officer received information that Kosom was trafficking in heroin. Acting on this information and armed with a search and arrest warrant, he sent a bogus customer to buy some heroin from him.
During the buy-bust operation, the officer arrested Kosom red-handed. During interrogations, he admitted that he possesses drugs and guided police to his house where the drugs were hidden.
When asked about the source of the heroin, Kosom said his friend Arsene had brought it for him from a Gulf state by land. He guided police to Arsene’s place who arrested him.
During interrogations, Arsene admitted to bringing heroin from a Gulf state in return for 20,000 Saudi riyals. He added he brought the drug twice for his friend.
The session was presided by Judge Adel Al-Saqer.

Asian drug dealers have been arrested

Three Asian drug dealers have been arrested by the General Department of Drug Control (GDDC) officials.Director General of GDDC Brigadier Sheikh Ahmed Al-Khalifa told the press that he set up an undercover team to put the gang under 24 hour police surveillance when news about their activities around the Al-Salmi and Al-Nuwaiseeb borders reached his table.The securitymen trailed one of the suspects to a location in Jleeb Al-Shuyoukh where he went to deliver the stuff to a woman who acted as the distributor of the drugs and arrested the trio during the course of transaction.The suspects were referred to relevant authorities for further investigation.

four Bangladeshis arrested for manufacturing alcohol

Acting upon information and armed with a search and arrest warrant, the Salmiya police raided an apartment in the area and arrested four Bangladeshis for manufacturing alcohol, reports Al-Qabas daily.
Police have also confiscated from them alcohol manufacturing equipment and 20 barrels full of raw material.Man wanted in drugs held: A Kuwaiti man who had earlier been sentenced in absentia to five years imprisonment in a drug-related case has been arrested by police, reports Al-Watan daily.
The suspect was arrested by roving police patrol at an unidentified location. At the time of his arrest he was in possession of 500 grams of hashish.
When the man was taken to a police station, a police investigator discovered the man was wanted by law in 12 other unidentified crimes.Kuwaiti drug addicts arrested: Police have arrested three Kuwaiti youths for possessing and consuming drugs, reports Al-Rai daily.The ‘addicts’ were arrested in a suburb of Salmiya by a police patrol.Police reportedly seized from their car three fingers of hashish.

Salwa Trafficker in heroin

Girl caught in drug pushing: Acting on information and armed with a search and arrest warrant, securitymen raided a house in Salwa and arrested a 26-year-old girl for trafficking in heroin, reports Al-Anba daily.
The girl allegedly had a criminal record and investigators found that she was working for some inmates of the Central Prison.

Shaikh Talal

Shaikh Talal, was sentenced last December by the lower criminal court to death - a first in the history of the state.
The Appeals Court also confirmed life sentences imposed on three accomplices - an undocumented person, a Bangladeshi and an Indian.
Two others, a Lebanese and an Iraqi, were sentenced to seven years in jail each. They were accused along with Shaikh Talal of money laundering.
The death sentence must be confirmed by the Court of Cassation and then signed by the ruler before the defendant can be executed by hanging.