Manama: The Public Prosecution-based General Attorney Ahmed Mohammed Al-Hamadi said that the Fourth Grand Criminal Court has issued a verdict sentencing nine convicts to a life and stripping them of Bahraini nationality.
All nine convicts were implicated in the case of weapons and explosives smuggling by sea. Three of the nine convicts have also been sentenced to 3 years in jail on counts of assaulting public security personnel in addition to their life imprisonment.
Al-Hamadi added that the annals of the case date back to December 28, 2013 when the Public Prosecution received a complaint report from the General Directorate of Criminal Investigation and Forensic Science (CID) informing that one of the suspects who was abroad had plotted to commit acts of terrorism namely the detonation of explosives targeting vital installations. The same suspect had recruited several persons, formed a terror organization that smuggled various sorts of weapons and explosives into the Kingdom and implemented assigned commitment of their acts of terror.
To implement this plot, the suspect succeeded in recruiting several persons inside Bahrain to join the group. He sent them successively to Iran to receive training on the use of weapons, explosives and combat techniques, sea navigation skills, how to smuggle and hide weapons, ammunitions and explosives in Bahrain. The elements of this group have actually smuggled a shipment of weapons and explosives and hidden the shipment in the Kingdom.
Upon tracking the movement of the members of the terrorist group, two of members of the terrorist group have been arrested after they were spotted at mid-sea on board a boat in the act of receiving weapons, ammunition and explosives intended for smuggling into the country. Three other suspects who are members of the group were also arrested.
As a result of that, the Prosecution immediately moved to examine the boat used in the incident and also examined the shipment caught on board the boat. Upon examination of the shipment, it turned out to be a big cache of explosives, detonators, firearms. Also during the inspection of the homes of some of the suspects and two specific warehousing locations used for storage of weapons and explosives, these locations contained various explosive substances, weapons, ammunitions and tools used in manufacturing explosive substances. Upon interrogating the two arrestees, they confessed to having joined the terror group for the purpose of carrying out their plans of committing terror operations under legal and religious justifications according to their viewpoint and also reliant upon sharia fatwa they were made to understand from the group’s commanders. They also travelled to Iran, received training there at the hand of Iranian instructors in the camps of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard on various locations in Iran. They received financial amounts following their training. They also confessed the full details of receiving the explosives, weapons, ammunitions and materials caught with them from an Iraqi boat crew at mid-sea after following coordinates they had been given in order to reach the aforesaid boat.
Investigations showed how the duties of members of the group had been divided, in terms of information gathering, determining targeted locations, how to transport the weapons, explosives and bombs and how to implement the operations.
He added that the Prosecution charged them with having intelligence liaising with proxies who worked for the interest of a foreign country with the purpose of committing hostile acts against the Kingdom of Bahrain, establishing and managing a group for the purpose of calling to hamper the provisions of the Kingdom’s Constitution and laws, preventing public institutions and authorities from carrying out their duties, attacking public and private rights and freedoms, jeopardizing national unity, training on the use of weapons, ammunitions and explosives, and smuggling the same for the purpose of committing acts of terrorism, supplying funds to a group meanwhile they knew its objectives and its carrying out terror activities.