Bangladeshi man sentenced to life imprisonment for drug trafficking

The Criminal Court has sentenced a Bangladeshi national to life imprisonment and imposed a fine in a drug trafficking case.

The verdict was delivered on the 5th of this month. The court found MD Sohab Mia, a citizen of Bangladesh, guilty of illegally importing a drug classified under Schedule 1 of the Maldives Drugs Act.

According to the case presented by the state, the incident took place on 28 June 2024.

Court documents state that Sohab Mia arrived in the Maldives on US-Bangla Airlines flight BS337.

During routine X-ray screening of his luggage at Velana International Airport, customs and police officers became suspicious. A joint search of his belongings led to the discovery of a packet containing suspected narcotics inside a laptop bag.

Police later conducted forensic analysis, which confirmed that the substance seized was 535.67 grams of methamphetamine.

The court ordered a life sentence for the offence. After deducting the period he spent in custody during the legal proceedings, the remaining sentence to be served is 23 years, three months and 25 days.

In addition to the prison sentence, the court ordered him to pay a fine of MVR 100,000.