Gulf | Yemen
Yemen puts 'dirty dozen' on trial for smuggling drugs
Eleven Iranians and one Pakistani were put on trial in Yemen on Sunday on charges of drug smuggling.
- By Nasser Arrabyee, Correspondent
- Published: 17:06 October 5, 2008
- Image Credit: EPA
- Iranian drug trafficking suspects attend their first hearing before the state security court in the Yemeni capital Sana’a on Sunday.
Sana'a: Eleven Iranians and one Pakistani were put on trial in Yemen on Sunday on charges of drug smuggling.
The hearing was adjourned till October 13 because translators did not come to the court.
The defendants requested the State Security Court chaired by Judge Redhwan Al Namer to appoint lawyers for them.
One of the defendants, who spoke broken Arabic, helped the Judge verify the names and ages of the accused, which range between 24 to 50 years.
No representatives from the Iranian or Pakistani embassy in Sana'a attended the first court session.
The prosecutor accused the men of smuggling a total of 3,560 kilogrammes of drugs from Pakistan to the Yemeni territorial waters with the purpose trading.
Earlier this year, the authorities arrested a total of 26 Iranians and Pakistanis on their east coast, including these 12, with about 12 tonnes of drugs.
Meanwhile, three tonnes of hashish were confiscated from a Pakistani boat in the Gulf of Aden this week, according to a ministry of interior statement.
An American warship intercepted the Pakistani boat and handed it over to the Yemeni Coast Guards, said the statement.
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